Title: Paramedic assignment in field hospital

Biography:

Edward Vershilovsky served as a paramedic for 15 years in the Israeli national emergency medical service. During his service he worked with the International Red Cross during the 2014 crisis in Ukraine, took part of the Israeli delegation to Panama, field hospital missions in Nepal and Equatorial Guinea. Edward served as chief instructor in Israeli national EMS paramedic training center. Nowadays, Edward is a clinical director for PerSys Medical, a manufacturer of medical devices intended for emergency interventions.
Degrees held: B.EMS (bachelor of emergency medicine), MPH (Master’s mergency and disaster management). Flight paramedic

Abstract

Paramedics (EMT-P) are leading members of emergency medical teams around the world. In Israel, paramedics are team leaders of civilian EMS teams, senior caregivers on a battalion level in IDF and they carry the medical responsibility in military and civilian rescue units. Israeli EMT-P holds permissions to manage advanced airway (intubation, supraglottic AW,surgical AW), perform needle and chest thoracostomy, insert a gastric tube and Foley catheter , insert a central line and provide sedative agents. The training of IDF paramedics is similar to the civil training with similar permissions.
During IDF field hospital mission in Nepal in 2015, 5 IDF paramedics joined the hospital team and were stationed in different hospital wards: ER, OR, ICU, admission ward – a shift from their primary role at the rescue mission.
The second opportunity to utilize paramedics in hospital setting was during IDF medical assistance mission in Equatorial Gunea. Paramedics were stationed in the ER,OR and field clinics.
During the presentation, I discuss the challenges, opportunities, success, failures and lessons learned from paramedic functioning in a hospital setting.