The EMS office is located at 4800 NE 122nd, the home of Portland Fire & Rescue Medical Services & Training Division adjacent to Fire Station 2. PF&R provides fire protection and emergency medical services to over 504,000 citizens and visitors of Portland which encompasses a 186 square mile area.
Emergency Medical Services Providers
All Portland Fire & Rescue firefighters are EMT-basics. We also have 209 firefighters who are paramedics, who provide Advanced Life Support (ALS) treatment. All are licensed Emergency Medical Service (EMS) providers through the Oregon Health Authority, EMS Section and are required to maintain this certification. The EMS office provides equipment and continuous training to maintain their certification and ensure they are prepared to provide excellent medical care for any emergency they encounter. They follow Multnomah County Patient Treatment Protocols to ensure the highest level of patient care.
Currently PF&R has the following number of personnel:
EMTs-533
Paramedics-209
Supervision
All of our EMS providers are under the direct supervision of Dr. Jon Jui. Dr. Jui, MD, MPH, FAECP is also on staff at Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU), Department of Emergency Medicine. The day-to-day operations of the EMS Section are run by the EMS Battalion Chief and the EMS Captain.
Training and Equipment
EMS staff provides PF&R firefighters with the latest technology, equipment, and medications to deliver high quality patient care.
Portland Fire & Rescue recently implemented, Image Trend Elite as our new web-based charting system for EMS calls. Image Trend simplifies Electronic Patient Care Reporting (ePCR) with tools for documenting, managing, and analyzing patient data.
Portland Fire uses the Lucas CPR device. This is an automated chest compression system designed to provide consistent and effective CPR to cardiac arrest patients. It delivers high-quality and uninterrupted chest compressions, during resuscitation efforts.
EMS Staff
EMS staff includes a Battalion Chief, an EMS Captain, three (3) EMS Specialists, an EMS Program Coordinator, and an administrative assistant.
EMS Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI)
What is Continuous Quality Improvement?
Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) is a comprehensive approach for defining customer requirements and managing an organization to consistently meet or exceed those requirements. Pre-hospital care is undergoing dramatic changes. We need to find ways to work faster, smarter, and more cost-effective while still providing the highest quality patient care. CQI can help us meet these goals.
CQI is founded on four guiding principles:
• Satisfying customers.
• Leading and Empowering people.
• Continually improving/preventing errors.
• Managing with data.
CQI Mission Statement
Portland Fire & Rescue supports a Continuous Quality Improvement process that promotes an exemplary service delivery system. This is a process that recognizes all employees as adjunct members to the improvement process; that values the non-punitive collection of performance related data; and that strives to develop and utilize objective information sources to create new perspectives on the quality of service delivered to our citizens. Our Quality Improvement Committee works determinedly to deliver the services of tomorrow… today.
Portland Fire & Rescue (PF&R) is proud of its tradition of excellent service to the citizens of Portland. We strive to continuously provide effective and efficient delivery of emergency services. Through our Continuous Quality Improvement process, we are constantly looking for ways to improve the quality and range of our services. Continuous Quality Improvement covers three broad areas of pre-hospital care: assessment, treatment, and technical skills. Our responsibility to our patients causes us to seek means by which we can continually improve and provide quality medical care.
Portland Fire & Rescue implements it’s CQI process through the CQI Committee. It is overseen by the Medical Director, EMS Battalion Chief and EMS Captain. It is co-chaired by EMS staff and is supported by an administrative assistant and intern. Committee members include paramedics, EMT-basics, and representatives from AMR, CHAT and Multnomah County EMS.
The committee also researches medical equipment and ways to make EMS care more efficient, effective, and safe to both providers and patients alike.
The committee reviews a wide variety of topics and follows the Multnomah County CQI schedule to ensure system-wide review. They also recommend training to improve processes.
An example of CQI at work at PF&R is our Key Performance Indicators (KPI). A KPI is a quantifiable measure of performance over time for a specific objective. Our KPI for suspected STEMI (ST elevation myocardial infarction (heart attack) is to get a 12-lead (cardiac monitoring rhythm) on the patient within 10-minutes on arrival to the scene. If this is positive, the 12-lead will be transmitted to the hospital and the catheterization (cath) lab will be activated. Firefighters will transport the patient quickly to the hospital while administering additional care and medications (oxygen, monitor blood pressure, aspirin, nitroglycerin, and establish vascular access (IV/IO). The overall goal is to get the patient the life-saving procedure they need (a stent to open the blocked blood vessel) within 90 minutes of initial patient contact. PF&R receives STEMI feedback reports each week from local hospitals and we share this performance data with the responding crews.
