Injury prevention and emergency medical services: the "Accidents Aren't" program

This report describes the rationale, purpose, structure, and content of the emergency medical services (EMS) injury prevention program "Accidents Aren't." The program is introduced with a review of injuries' toll professionally, epidemiologically, and economically in terms of the demand on medical care resources and the expense of care. With recognition that most EMS resources are expended on clinical care of non-critical but potentially catastrophic injuries, "Accidents Aren't" was designed to offer a more cost-effective means of care for this population and more efficient utilization of finite resources. The report describes the program's formulation process, its modular design, the instructor guidelines, the core training tool, the STARR mnemonic, and five clinical cases involving a wide array of injury mechanisms to which the mnemonic is applicable. Physician involvement in teaching and implementing the program is discussed. The relationship of the program to the future of EMS concludes the report.