Safety and Quality in Medical Transport Systems

The Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems (CAMTS) has been accrediting air and ground transport services since 1991. One of the most significant needs the Commission has recognized is to assist transport services in creating a culture that supports safety and quality for both crews and patients. Most of the helicopter EMS (emergency medical service) accidents and many ground ambulance accidents can be attributed to human factors and systems designs that lead to poor decision-making. Management commitment is vital to create and maintain a culture that supports risk assessment, accountability, professionalism and organizational dynamics. This reference book has been created by CAMTS to address this need directly and comprehensively. It offers a groundbreaking collection of expert insights and practical solutions that can be used by EMS, Fire and Rescue, public and private services, and professional emergency and transport professionals worldwide. Quoting from the foreword written by the late Robert L. Helmreich, Professor Emeritus of Psychology at The University of Texas Human Factors Research Project, 'This is an important book which should be required reading for everyone involved in patient transport, from managers and dispatchers to those at the sharp end... The experienced and able authors and editors of this work use culture as the overarching concept needed to maximize safety while delivering patients expeditiously.'

John W. Overton, Jr. earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and his Medical Doctor degree from the University of Virginia. After initial years in residency training, followed by six years of full-time inner-city emergency medicine that fostered interest in trauma care, Dr. Overton returned to residency training, completing general and cardiothoracic surgical residencies. His interests in trauma consulting and improving trauma care have continued throughout his career. He was one of the earliest adopters of a regional trauma database in the 1980s and contributed to the development of the National Cardiac Surgical Database in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Over a two-year period in the late 1990s Dr. Overton led a team that focused on reducing mortality following cardiac surgery in conjunction with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. Significant and sustained process improvement and reduction in post-operative cardiac surgical death followed completion of the team endeavor. Dr. Overton’s surgical career has been influenced by his life-long interest in aviation and safety, employing aviation safety principles he learned as a pilot to improve surgical care. He has been a general aviation pilot for over three decades. Following his retirement from clinical surgery, Dr. Overton remains an active pilot and teaches medical and surgical colleagues principles of safety and risk management. He is a former member of the board of directors for the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems, and in 2011 he was appointed to serve as the interim medical officer for the National Transportation Safety Board. He is a proponent of a just culture and teaches the subjects of Just Culture and Threat and Error Management to medical, surgical and transport teams. Eileen Frazer, R.N., Certified Medical Transport Executive; former chief flight nurse, chairperson for the Association of Air Medical Services’ (A