title: Emergency medical services information systems and a future EMS national database.
abstract: Since the early 1970s, various publications and legislation have contributed to the development of emergency medical services (EMS) information systems and databases. Yet, even today, EMS systems vary in their ability to collect patient and systems data and to put these data to use. In addition, no means currently exists to easily link disparate EMS databases to allow analysis at local, state, and national levels. For this reason, the National Association of State EMS Directors is working with its federal partners at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Trauma and EMS program of the Health Resources and Services Administration's (HRSA's) Maternal and Child Health Bureau to develop a national EMS database. Such a database would be useful in developing nationwide EMS training curricula, evaluating patient and EMS system outcomes, facilitating research efforts, determining national fee schedules and reimbursement rates, and providing valuable information on other issues related to EMS care.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 27599, USA. gdm@med.unc.edu
authors.forename: Gregory
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mears
authors.forename: Joseph P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Ornato
authors.forename: Drew E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Dawson
mesh_terms: D003628:Database Management Systems / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006077:Government Agencies; D006801:Humans; D008490:Medical Informatics; D013219:State Government; D014481:United States