Tag - Opioids

November 18, 2018Read more...

PoliceOne article: “How biosurveillance turns opioids-related data into actionable intelligence”

Check out this PoliceOne article "How biosurveillance turns opioids-related data into actionable intelligence" by By Rob Lawrence, P1 Contributor. See how a customer agency, in Richmond, Virginia, is utilizing the FirstWatch system and turning real-time activity data into actionable intelligence. Of note, the Richmond Ambulance Authority was the first commercial user of the FirstWatch system. Read the Full Article Here.

November 18, 2018Read more...
Opioids

How biosurveillance turns opioids-related data into actionable intelligence

PoliceOne article "How biosurveillance turns opioids-related data into actionable intelligence" by By Rob Lawrence, P1 Contributor. See how a customer agency, in Richmond, Virginia, is utilizing the FirstWatch system and turning real-time activity data into actionable intelligence. Of note, the Richmond Ambulance Authority was the first commercial user of the FirstWatch system.

July 13, 2018Read more...

CDC Health Alert Network (HAN) Update on 7/11/18

IN THE NEWS CDC Health Alert Network (HAN) Update on 7/11/18 The CDC has published a Health Update (HAN 00413), via their network, and found at this site:  https://emergency.cdc.gov/han/han00413.asp.  The original HAN Advisory and subsequent Updates tell the story of the escalating opioid crisis, particularly involving the synthetic opioid, Fentanyl and Fentanyl analogs, and their impact on overdose and overdose deaths in the United States. Specifically, this Health Update is to alert public health departments, health care professionals, first responders, medical examiners, and...

June 26, 2018Read more...

Detection & Management of Opioid Exposure for Public Safety Working Dogs

IN THE NEWS Detection & Management of Opioid Exposure for Public Safety Working Dogs Veterinary Doctors Maureen McMichael & Ashley Mitek, in conjunction with the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine and Working Dogs HQ and partnering with Carle Regional Emergency Medical System and Carle Arrow Ambulance, have developed a program to assess and treat working service dogs (primarily in scent detection) that may have had an exposure to opiates and may be showing signs of overdose. The program continues to...

June 26, 2018Read more...

Detection & Management of Opioid Exposure for Public Safety Working Dogs

Although this subject is outside the usual scope of FirstWatch’s focus, it’s recognized that working service dogs that assist local, state and federal law enforcement and other agency partners (FBI, DEA, TSA, MPs, etc.), do so at great risk and deserve to be protected from harm. We are including links to this program which include assessment, treatment, and transport for further care of public safety working dogs who have been exposed to opiates and may need advanced care and possible reversal...

April 9, 2018Read more...
opioids

Synthetic Opioids/Fentanyl and Fentanyl Analogs

This is a collection of resources, developed by experts and stakeholder groups, to help identify, mitigate, and manage the risk for First Responders. The documents contain tools, recommendations, charts, and other pertinent information for knowledge as well as the development of Best Practice Policies for First Responder agencies in dealing with synthetic opioids.

March 9, 2018Read more...
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Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths Within Communities – A Quality Improvement Perspective

Check out the new publication on the role of EMS in addressing the opioid epidemic. It includes an article by our Improvement Guide, Mike Taigman on using quality improvement principles in Deming's for lenses of Profound Knowledge to decrease deaths and improve recovery for people dealing with opioid addiction: Read the Full Article Here.

November 29, 2017Read more...

Pinnacle 2017 Session: How EMS Can Fight the Opioid Overdose Crisis

What a great session at the Pinnacle 2017 conference. For those of you that were unable to attend, you can find the information regarding the conference below, as well as resources shared during the presentation. Presenters: Todd Stout, FirstWatch, Rob Lawrence, Richmond Ambulance Authority, Jon Kelly, Trinity EMS, Jamie Pianka, ProEMS and Dave Lewis, St. Charles County Ambulance District Session Description: Opioid overdoses are now clearly one of the biggest public health threats facing this country, leading to more than 33,000 deaths in 2015...

August 15, 2017Read more...

New EMS1 Column Post by Mike Taigman – Quality Improvement in Action: Cutting opioid overdose deaths in half

Read the latest post in the new Paramedic Chief column via EMS1, "Better EMS Performance" led by our own Improvement Guide, Mike Taigman. In this new column, Mike and our FirstWatch team along with our customers and colleagues will share actionable strategies, concepts and ideas to make real improvements. This column draws from Learning Organizations, Systems Thinking, Six Sigma, Lean Thinking, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and others you will not need to have a black belt to put these ideas...

November 2, 2016Read more...

EMS Data Can Help Stop the Opioid Epidemic

Former FirstWatch Medical Director Dr. Alex Garza and Boston EMS, Fire and Police Medical Director Dr. Sophia Dyer, joined forces in this month's issue of JEMS to share the opportunity EMS has to help in the efforts to slow down the Opioid epidemic and perhaps prevent overdoses before they occur. Read the Article.