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Using data to influence the delivery of exceptional service to the community

Florida continues its commitment to providing quality Emergency Medical Services (EMS) for its citizens and visitors, services that are founded on the principles of quality improvement, ensuring that an optimal, uniform and standard of prehospital emergency medical care is available to everyone in Florida.

To make this commitment a reality, the Florida Prehospital EMS Tracking and Reporting System (EMSTARS) program was created. This program provides for the collection of incident level data from EMS agencies and subsequent analysis for benchmarking and identifying quality improvement initiatives. This program has been implemented with the guidance of the EMS Advisory Council Data Committee who has defined and maintains a Data Dictionary ensuring the standardized collection of EMS incident data into the state repository providing project oversight and steering.

Additional information about Florida’s Prehospital EMS Tracking and Reporting System is available in this EMSTARS Basic Facts document.

Spotlight - Plant City Fire Rescue

Plant City Fire Rescue moves from paper to electronic and submitting to EMSTARS in less than a year.

Plant City Fire Rescue began providing BLS transport services in Hillsborough County in 2001 and ALS in 2007. Also in 2007, this agency made the wise decision, under their Fire Chief’s direction, to initiate actions to move from a paper based operation to an electronic one to enable more thorough and detailed Quality Assurance processes. Taking advantage of the grant programs offered through the EMSTARS Program, this agency had grant funds awarded three months after their initial request, had their hardware and software installed, personnel trained and began submission to EMSTARS in September 2008.

Read the rest of the story about Plant City Fire Rescue and how that organization is moving from good to great.

If you have a story to tell,or something or someone to Spotlight, please contact Stephanie Daugherty at the Bureau of EMS, Data Unit.