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EMS Workforce

Overview

In 2004, the EMS Workforce Agenda for the Future (Workforce Agenda) published by NHTSA described a future in which all EMS systems have sufficient numbers of well educated, adequately prepared, and appropriately credentialed EMS workers who are valued, well compensated, healthy, and safe. The Workforce Agenda identifies four components critical to developing an EMS workforce that will thrive and be a driving force for achieving an integrated, community-based EMS system: 1) data and research; 2) education and certification; 3) workforce planning and development; and 4) the safety, health, and wellness of the EMS workforce.

NHTSA has since funded two projects with NASEMSO (EMS Workforce Planning and Development Guidelines & Measuring the EMS Workforce) to advance these four components.

Final project documents and other related materials are linked below.

Documents & Resources

Documents

EMS Workforce Planning & Development: Guidelines for State Adoption (Oct 2014). This is the first generation of EMS workforce-related guidelines. These guidelines are developed as a tool and they do not address issues related to staffing, ambulance distribution and access or population-based supply, demand and needs assessments.
Measuring the EMS Workforce – Report Compendium (2023). Four reports created from the NHTSA-funded Measuring the EMS Workforce project. Individual reports are linked below.
- Identifying Ideal Measures and Processes (June 2023)
- State Profiles, Successes, and Challenges to Implementation (Aug 2023)
- Strategies for Workforce Measurement Implementation (Sept 2023)
- Understanding State EMS Office Capability and Recommendations for the Future (Feb 2023)
Measuring the EMS Workforce: Identifying Priority Unknowns (Mar 2024). This report identifies high-priority questions about the EMS workforce for analysis and reporting at the state and national levels, and includes clarification of goals, feasibility considerations, priorities, and future steps for state EMS workforce analysis.

Resources

National EMS Workforce Data Definitions (2014). Created by the American Institutes for Research with funding from NHTSA, this is a tool to improve the quality and consistency of EMS workforce data nationally and to facilitate data- driven EMS workforce planning and research.
Kansas data as referenced on page 23 in the EMS Workforce Planning and Development: Guidelines for State Adoption document.

For more information:
info@nasemso.org