We strive to contribute extensively and innovatively to the improvement and advancement of prehospital care in our community by providing cutting-edge medical oversight and collaborative and collegial training.
Leadership
Bridgette Svancarek, MD, FAEMS
Interim Chief, Division of Emergency Medical Services
Associate Professor, Emergency Medicine
Program Director, EMS Fellowship
“Washington University EMS: delivering excellence and innovation in prehospital care.”
Education
Fellowship
Fellows train alongside some of the most highly regarded emergency response professionals in the region and experience a broad range of EMS opportunities in our ACGME-accredited EMS Fellowship. The result? Expertly-trained fellows with a 100% 5-year EMS board pass rate (2023 national pass rate: 78%).
Clinical services
Washington University EMS is Missouri’s first and only physician-based, licensed Emergency Medical Response Agency (EMRA). We provide medical direction to many types of prehospital entities including fire-based systems, a hospital-based system, third service agency, private agency, USAR, tactical, EMT and paramedic programs. We offer education, QA/QI, field response shifts, protocol development/changes based on the latest science and expert opinions. In addition, we have a 24-hour call line for online medical control and deployment for field response. Meet our partners.
Research
Currently, two national studies involve one or more of our EMS agencies: the PAIN study, which is a randomized, blind, controlled trial comparing ketamine and fentanyl for prehospital pain management, and the IMPRESS trial, which evaluates the impact of a prehospital warning protocol on the timing of early sepsis care in the ED.
We contribute data to the Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival—one of the largest EMS registries in the world—that is used to improve performance, further our knowledge of cardiac arrest treatment and save lives. Additionally, our faculty stay at the top of the industry by participating in organizations such as the National Association of EMS Physicians, the Committee on Accreditation for the EMS Professions, and the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians.