So many people have complained about the lowest common denominator (or “low information voter” AKA LIV) tendencies in EMS and EMS management (both clinically and operationally) ad nauseum. What we haven’t done is begun to fix it. The path is deceptively simple. Infiltrate. Infiltrate. Infiltrate. There are tons of committees, focus groups, etc. out there. Imagine if each of these committees had a strong advocate for higher EMS standards on them advocating for change or at least showing the way.
Currently, I’m up at NREMT helping review EMT exam questions. Watching a medic’s eyes pop out at reading a sepsis protocol that involves more than fluid resuscitation has been worth the trip alone. I don’t blame him. I blame his regional system for maintaining a lowest common denominator EMS system. I blame the fire departments and private services that want a lowest common denominator system for the express purposes of lower wages and/or ease of training.
Get involved. Infiltrate. Be the Fifth Column that corrodes the lowest common denominator mentalities from the inside. If nothing else, it adds to your personal contact list. And just maybe if we have the advocates for high quality EMS networking with each other, high quality EMS becomes the denominator.
