University of Iowa Health Care specialists in emergency medicine answer the call to serve Iowans every day, around the clock, anywhere they are needed.
Emergency medical services (EMS) professionals at UI Hospitals and Clinics fill a wide range of roles in their service to Iowa.
The UI Emergency Treatment Center (ETC) recently expanded to better care for more than 40,000 patients annually. Its medical helicopter service, AirCare, made 1,317 life-saving flights across the region this past fiscal year. The ETC is also home to the state's only residency program in emergency medicine. The Trauma Center at UI Hospitals and Clinics is one of only two Level I trauma centers in the state.
Educators in the Emergency Medical Services Learning Resource Center (EMSLRC) help Iowa communities by providing training for physicians, nurses, paramedics and other emergency-care providers.
The Emergency Medicine Simulation Center, located in the EMSLRC, serves as a focal point for emergency medicine training. Computerized patient simulators have a pulse and blood pressure, and they can breathe, talk and undergo the same life-saving procedures that are necessary to care for critically ill and/or injured persons. Medical simulation prepares doctors, nurses, paramedics and others to care for real patients with emergent health care needs. Training on such mannequins improves the providers' ability to transfer their skills from practice sessions to real life. EMSLRC staff develops and adapts the scenarios to the providers' appropriate level of training, from first-responder or paramedic student to seasoned emergency physician.
The EMS Learning Resources Center also has launched the state of Iowa's only emergency medicine simulation lab on wheels. The lab, which features a realistic ambulance setting, is built within a 40-foot motor home and takes emergency medicine education to physicians, nurses, paramedics and other emergency care providers across Iowa.
The Mobile Emergency Treatment Center offers interactive training with anatomically accurate mannequins and prepares the participants for the unexpected. The participants are trained to make appropriate decisions and take timely actions during realistic patient-care scenarios.
"Providing emergency medical services is a team effort, starting with the 9-1-1 dispatcher who picks up the phone to the first-responders and EMTs/paramedics to the emergency department personnel who subsequently care for the patient," said Azeemuddin Ahmed, MD, medical director for UI AirCare and EMSLRC.
“The entire University of Iowa Department of Emergency Medicine is proud to be part of the EMS team effort here within our state of Iowa and the entire region. We salute our EMS providers for their service, dedication and commitment to quality patient care.”
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