Training

Sunstar holds three positions on the Pinellas County Continuing Medical Education (CME) Steering Committee: one education manager, one field EMT, and one field paramedic. The committee monitors the educational needs of the system and works to improve the quality of CME for Pinellas County EMS providers. Sunstar is interested in working with the committee to provide CMEs through a greater variety of methods. Some employees have expressed a desire to be able to complete courses via computer or printed self-study manuals.

Sunstar works closely with St. Petersburg College (SPC), the CME provider for Pinellas County EMS. Together, the paramedic ambulance service and the college ensure that all EMTs and paramedics complete continuing education that (a) maintains and enhances skills and (b) serves to retain state certification or national registry status.

Sunstar also has an agreement with SPC, whereby the college loans its training equipment to the Pinellas County EMS system during a disaster, such as a hurricane or mass-casualty event.

Sunstar EMS encourages all EMTs and paramedics to attend CME in the month offered. If the employee fails to comply with this requirement of the medical control board, disciplinary action is taken.

Sunstar will continue to provide its team with learning programs above and beyond CME training offered by SPC.

* Critical Care Transport Training: Our Critical Care Program provides employees a career option in EMS, different from working on conventional ambulances. By becoming a member of our CCT team, our employees advance their knowledge and scope of practice. CCT trained personnel receive a five percent pay increase in recognition of the additional training and the higher level of care they must deliver to their patients, who are the most critical patients in Pinellas County.

* Communication Center Continuing Education: System Status Controllers (SSCs) receive Continuing Dispatch Education (CDE) every other month under the direction of the Communications Training Officer. The training is provided in both a classroom and self-study format. Our CDEs meet the criteria of the National Academy of Emergency Medical Dispatch for EMD re-certification. We log our SSCs' completion of CDE into a database.

CDE benefits our system and our patients in many ways. It expands the SSC knowledge and skill base, enabling the SSC to enhance on-line skills related to the provision of pre-arrival instructions and emergency telephone procedures. CDE also improves skills in the proper application of all components of priority dispatch, including caller interrogation and call prioritization. The training not only improves our efficiency but also lowers risk to all agencies involved. Further, CDE fosters discussion and criticism of our current methods of operation, generating ideas, useful in our pursuit of performance excellence. As part of that function, CDE can be used to help implement new protocols from Sunstar, the Office of the Medical Director, the County Authority, or a combination of the three. Finally, CDE helps maintain an understanding of the evolving science and art of medical dispatching. In short, CDE helps ensure the highest level of service.