Nearly all of the innovative things developed at FirstWatch started with a customer request. Their users tend to be some of the smartest data-driven leaders in EMS and fire service. They consistently develop new ways to lead, solve problems, and make improvements using data combined with improvement science. Please join them and dozens of their customers to learn about the new things they’ve developed. Share your ideas/requests for our next generation of FirstWatch data analysis/performance improvement tools. The session is open to all Pinnacle attendees but please register in advance.

Todd Stout is the founder and CEO of FirstWatch, a Pinnacle Strategic Partner. Mike Taigman, MA, is the Improvement Guide for FirstWatch and was the facilitator for the EMS Agenda 2050 project.

Every EMS system on the planet has some kind of “quality” function. And yet, if you ask, very few of them have produced meaningful improvement. Only a small percentage use meaningful measures to track their performance. In this highly interactive session, we will explore how to think of measures that matter. You’ll learn how to use the four lenses of Improvement Science to make meaningful and measurable improvements in the things that matter most.

You will learn:

• What to measure to know if your system cares for patients the way you hope (most don’t)
• How to display your performance, so your team knows what needs attention and what does not
• How to make meaningful and sustainable improvement where it matters most.
• How to navigate resistance to change
• Why leading through the lens of improvement science produces better results

Mike Taigman, MA, is Improvement Guide at FirstWatch and is recognized nationally for his writing and teaching around the use of data and quality. He teaches improvement science as an Assistant Professor at the University of California San Francisco and the University of Maryland Baltimore County. Maia Dorsett, MD, PhD is an Emergency Medicine and EMS physician and educator. She serves as the medical director for EMS education at Monroe Community College and is the Associate Regional Medical Director for Education & Quality for the Monroe-Livingston Region near Rochester, NY.

Participants in this session are required to attend Part 1 & 2. Part 2 takes place Tuesday morning. Choose “Shark Tank Part 2: Season Finale” as your Tuesday morning Power Seminar. Each part is $195 for a total of $390.

The Shark Tank Power Seminar is back by popular demand in 2023, and this year the sharks have a bigger appetite! We’ve extended the seminar to two half days to give you more time for research, creativity and networking.

During this highly interactive seminar, you’ll work with a team of other participants to develop and pitch an innovation project. You’ll also hear from leading experts in innovation in public safety and healthcare, share your experiences driving change in your communities, and leave with specific strategies to help your organization move forward. The highlight of the seminar will be the “EMS Innovation Shark Tank,” where teams will present their innovation ideas to a panel of EMS experts and try to convince them that their ideas are worthy of investing time and resources. Join us and take your organization to the next level.

You will learn:

• How to encourage innovation in a stagnant organization
• How to develop and sustain a culture of innovation
• Concepts and take-home strategies that can be implemented immediately
• Tools and tricks to help you “sell” innovative ideas to your teams

Our 2023 Sharks are: Tom Judge, Executive Director and Co-Founder of LifeFlight of Maine; Mike Taigman, MA, Improvement Guide for FirstWatch; Ed Racht, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Global Medical Response; Rob Lawrence, Director of Strategic Implementation with Pro EMS and Executive Director of the California Ambulance Association; Remle Crowe, PhD, Director of Research at ESO.

sponsored by ESO

We never know what will happen in this collaborative session. Based on the principle “all teach, all learn,” the facilitators will start by brainstorming a list of hot topics. They will talk about anything that interests you. It could be why annual performance evaluations suck and should be abolished, why most EMS QI programs never improve anything, how EMT of the year programs destroy motivation or anything else you’d like to explore. Then we will create an instant agenda and teach each other. It sounds crazy, but it works.

Todd Stout is the founder and CEO of FirstWatch, a Pinnacle Strategic Partner. Mike Taigman is the Improvement Guide for FirstWatch and was the facilitator for the EMS Agenda 2050 project.

To attend this session, you must first attend “Shark Tank…Part 1: Return the Deep” that takes place Monday afternoon.

Shark Tank winners will be revealed in Shark Tank Part 2, a continuation from Day 1.

Prior to this session, teams will have diligently worked though the prior evening to come up with innovative solutions and entrepreneurial ideas that will be presented to the group and the Sharks. You’ll be certain to be entertained and come away with new ideas and ways to help your organization navigate to success.

Our 2023 Sharks are: Tom Judge, Executive Director and Co-Founder of LifeFlight of Maine; Mike Taigman, MA, an expert in healthcare improvement strategies and the Improvement Guide for FirstWatch; Ed Racht, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Global Medical Response; Rob Lawrence, Director of Strategic Implementation with Pro EMS and Executive Director of the California Ambulance Association; Remle Crowe, PhD, Director of Research at ESO.

Nearly all of the innovative things developed at FirstWatch started with a customer request. Their users tend to be some of the smartest data-driven leaders in EMS and fire service. They consistently develop new ways to lead, solve problems, and make improvements using data combined with improvement science. Please join them and dozens of their customers to learn about the new things they’ve developed. Share your ideas/requests for our next generation of FirstWatch data analysis/performance improvement tools. The session is open to all Pinnacle attendees but please register in advance.

Todd Stout is the founder and CEO of FirstWatch, a Pinnacle Strategic Partner. Mike Taigman, MA, is the Improvement Guide for FirstWatch and was the facilitator for the EMS Agenda 2050 project.

Change is hard, especially in EMS and public safety, where the nature of our work leads us to be more reactive than proactive. For our profession not just to survive but to thrive, change must occur across the board—from how we view staffing to our role in our communities, from how we measure our performance to our relationships with our colleagues in healthcare, and so much more.

Change management—getting your staff not just to accept but to embrace change—has to evolve with the times, with the new wants and needs of younger generations. It can be daunting and requires bravery, transparent communications and a clear sense of direction.

Ed Racht, MD, who has led his share of change, will host this thought-provoking session with a powerful panel of leaders. Joining Ed will be Jay Fitch, PhD, founding partner of Fitch & Associates; Todd Stout, CEO of FirstWatch; and Kelly Cope, chief of the St. Charles (Mo.) County Ambulance District.

Throughout the session, the panelists will evoke the experience and wisdom of the late EMS pioneers Jack Stout and Jim Page.

sponsored by FirstWatch

Hundreds of concepts, ideas and solutions get presented each year at Pinnacle. It can almost be overwhelming. This interactive session provides a mechanism to capture some of the best solutions you’ve heard and put them into a take-home action plan.