WVEMS has received a memorandum from the Virginia Office of EMS with the following information. pdf A copy may be downloaded HERE. (31 KB)

The recent changes to the KKK 1822 ambulance standards and the development of new standards by the Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services (CAAS)  and the National Association Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has created questions at the state EMS level and especially from EMS agencies planning to purchase either a replacement or remount ambulance. To further complicate matters, at the national level, there are no “standards” for remounting of ambulances; this is a future project. Within the Virginia EMS Regulations 12VAC5-31-810 Ground ambulance specifications states in part:

“B. A ground ambulance must be commercially constructed and certified to comply with the current federal specification for the Star of Life ambulance (U.S. General Services Administration KKK-A-1822 standards) as of the date of vehicle construction, with exceptions as specified in these regulations.”

 After consultation with the Virginia Office of the Attorney General, it has been determined that on or after July 1, 2016, any newly constructed or remounted ambulance must comply with the above Regulation in order to be permitted in Virginia. This means that remounted ambulances must meet the same safety requirements identified in any Change Notice issued by the General Services Administration (GSA) KKK 1822 Ambulance standards. A Virginia EMS agency cannot elect to exclude themselves from any of these required standards and receive a permit to operate an ambulance in the Commonwealth.

For future reference, both the NFPA1917 Standard for Automotive Ambulances and the (CAAS) Ground Vehicle Standard V1.0 incorporate all the safety standards referenced in the GSA document. 

The American Heart Association/Mission Lifeline wants to recognize EMS agencies for their excellence in assessing and coordinated treatment with hospitals of STEMI patients.  Awards are given for performance in a calendar quarter, and year.  For more information please see  pdf 2016 EMS Recognition Flyer (119 KB)  and  pdf 2016 EMS Recognition Criteria (247 KB) . 

Starting in May 2016, the ratio expression format for drug concentrations will no longer be permitted. This new development will apply to epinephrine, isoproterenol and neostigmine. Unaffected by this are the lidocaine and epinephrine combination solutions for local anesthesia.

The new labeling for epinephrine will only be displayed as the mass concentration format used in virtually every other medication. For example, epinephrine 1:1000 will now be labeled as 1 mg/mL, and for the 1:10,000 as 0.1 mg/mL. It is hoped that this change will decrease medication errors in the field and in the hospital. pdf See the explanation HERE. (159 KB)