Virginia EMS Blog

The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) is happy to notify Virginia’s EMS leaders and stakeholders that Virginia hospitals have agreed to extend access to the Hospital Medication Kit Exchange program to April 15, 2025. The Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association (VHHA) and VDH leadership have worked collaboratively, along with the Regional EMS Councils, the Virginia Society of Health-System Pharmacists (VSHP), the Virginia Fire Chiefs Association, and other stakeholders to extend this program transition.

The Office of EMS encourages all EMS agencies to continue to work towards fully implementing their own EMS pharmacy systems in the meantime. This extension will give agencies the appropriate time that they need to fully implement their own systems.

Read the VSHP and VHHA update.

Recently, PWW Advisory Group (PWW|AG) announced their National EMS Documentation Survey, which will identify attitudes, challenges and issues inherent in documenting EMS patient interactions.

EMS leaders have consistently identified high quality clinical and operational documentation as one of their organizations’ most persistent challenges. The National EMS Documentation Survey may be completed by any individual with a role in EMS, including EMS practitioners, medical directors, EMS leaders, managers and executives, EMS billing and revenue cycle management professionals, and others.

The survey will measure critical issues such as:

• EMS provider and leadership attitudes toward patient care report (PCR) documentation;
• Comfort with and ease of use of EMS PCR technology;
• Sufficiency of time allocated to PCR documentation;
• Need for training and education on EMS documentation issues;

We encourage Virginia’s EMS providers to participate in the survey, which is estimated to take 10-15 minutes to complete. The results will help provide insight and research into improving EMS patient care reporting documentation and will help provide the tools and support that EMS professionals need to produce high-quality documentation.

To complete the survey, visit: www.surveymonkey.com/r/EMSDocumentationSurvey.

The Baxter International Inc. North Cove facility in Marion, NC was impacted by heavy rain and flooding associated with Hurricane Helene. Storm and flood damage has resulted in the closure of the manufacturing plan that primarily manufactures intravenous and peritoneal dialysis solutions.

Baxter is a major U.S. manufacturer of these products and reportedly produces 1.5 million units of IV solutions daily, accounting for approximately 60 percent of the domestic United States production.

As of October 7, 2024, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not declared a shortage of IV solutions because of the Baxter facility shutdown. The FDA and Baxter are however, strongly encouraging providers to assess existing IV solution product inventory, monitor usage rates, and explore a range of conservation strategies to preserve supplies in the current environment.

Learn more about this developing update, at: https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/emergency-medical-services/baxter-manufacturing-updates/

VDH Clinician Letter Updates

Disruption in Production of intravenous (IV) Fluid due to Impacts from Hurricane Helene- Update #3  – October 29, 2024

Disruption in Production of Intravenous (IV) Fluid Due to Impacts from Hurricane Helene—Update #2 – October 21, 2024

Update on Disruption in Production of Intravenous (IV) Fluid Due to Impacts from Hurricane Helene – October 8, 2024

Additional Info

Baxter Hurricane Helene Updates

Hurricane Helene: Baxter’s manufacturing recovery in North Carolina – Information and updates on CDER-regulated drug and biologic products

HHS Informational Briefing on IV Fluid Conservation Best Practices | October 28, 2024

 

September is National Preparedness Month. The Virginia Office of EMS wants to make sure you are READY today for what comes tomorrow!

As EMS providers, you are called to respond to emergencies, disasters and other events that may require you to be away from your family for long periods of time. Because of that, ensuring personal, family, and professional readiness is critical to maintaining resilience during response.

Each week we will share recommendations for building and maintaining preparedness. You can also learn more at: www.ready.gov/september.