EMS Report
Enhance your EMS Reports using our EMS Report Template! The template saves time by structuring all of the information necessary for a high-quality report.
Fact Checked by Nate Lacson.
What is an EMS Report Template?
An EMS Report Template is a resource designed to assist EMS personnel in constructing their patient care reports following dispatch, which are essential for the hand-off transition to from emergency service to health center. EMS reports are critical for ensuring safe and effective patient care. Therefore, these must be accurate (Alatis et al., 2020).
The EMS report typically involves documentation of patient demographics, incident information, and emergency dispatch procedures to create a coherent picture of what has occurred prior to hospital treatment. This informs an initial impression, which allows medical professionals, such as emergency department doctors, to be well-informed and quantify the severity of an injury or an illness (Short & Goldstein, 2022).
Despite the importance of this documentation in patient care, many EMS personnel report this to be time-consuming, which can reduce adherence to prehospital emergency procedures (Chen et al., 2016). To enhance the efficiency of this process, we have constructed the EMS Report Template as an assurance tool.
The template provides a logical structure and includes all of the information necessary for a high-quality report. This includes:
- Patient demographics
- Chief complaint
- Dispatch details
- Incident details
- Vital signs
- Physical examination
- Transport information
The template itself can be completed digitally, using our online software, or printed for a physical copy to be filled in by hand.
In using our template, EMS personnel can enhance the quality of their EMS reports, which can enhance patient experiences.
Editable EMS Report
Access our free EMS Report PDF here
How does it work?
The EMS Report Template works by structuring all essential information required for a high-quality EMS report. This optimally saves time for EMS personnel and enhances the amount of information for receiving health practitioners, reducing communication and enhancing patient care protocols. Here are some steps to guide the use of the template:
Step 1: Get the template
Access the template online for a digital copy or by downloading the PDF for a physical copy using the link below.
Step 2: Patient information
Document the patient’s information in the first section, including their name, age, date of birth, and emergency contact. This can help with patient identification and patient documentation.
Step 3: Record dispatch details
Record the details that triggered EMS dispatch, including the dispatch number, location, time, and observations. This is essential to meet legal requirements and can provide context.
Step 4: Arrival information
Note the conditions, initial observations, and procedures conducted. Also, include whether procedures were completed before or on arrival alongside who administered them.
Step 5: Health status
If the patient is conscious and able, record any information regarding previous medical history, allergies, or medications, along with the patient’s chief complaint.
Step 6: Current vital signs
Record the patient’s vitals, including heart rate, blood pressure, level of consciousness, speech ability, respiration, and skin condition.
Step 7: Physical examination
Document the patient’s physical condition, noting any injuries, substance use, and additional information.
Step 8: Transport changes
Document any changes that occur regarding the patient’s condition and responses to treatment during transport.
Step 9: Review and sign
Review the document to ensure its accuracy before signing off.
EMS Report example (sample)
To show you how the template works in a practical setting, we have created an example EMS Report. The example follows the previous steps, creating an EMS report for a fictional emergency service patient. It is recommended that you use this as a reference when creating your own EMS report but take into consideration that the information used is entirely fictitious and should not substitute EMS procedures or patient information in practice.
The example can be accessed online here or downloaded as a PDF to obtain a physical copy by using the following link:
Download the EMS Report example here.
When would you use this template?
The EMS Report Template is primarily a tool designed to help construct a high-quality EMS Report. This can be used for any emergency situation that requires this type of documentation. Some scenarios where this template may be particularly beneficial include the following:
EMS Dispatch
Following an EMS call-out, EMS personnel such as paramedics may use the template to structure their patient care documents. Doing so will help keep track of the patient’s information and health status from the incident until the patient is passed onto further health services. This is essential for high-quality documentation.
Health center emergencies
During a health center emergency, the EMS Report Template may be useful to structure essential information. Given that emergencies are often high-pressure situations, the template may probe further information that may have otherwise been left out in verbal reports. This helps ensure that all details and information are known, which may inform decisions and procedures.
Quality assurance procedure
The EMS Report Template may be implemented in practical settings as a quality assurance procedure. Health facilities such as hospitals, emergency departments, and ambulance services may use the template as a standardized procedure. This can help ensure that all EMS reports completed in the center are of the same quality and can reduce miscommunications regarding content and details.
Benefits of the EMS Report Template
Our free EMS Report Template offers a simple, ready-to-use structure for EMS practitioners to enhance the quality of their documentation and support improved patient outcomes. Here are a few of the many benefits using our template may offer:
Time-saving
Constructing a detailed EMS report can be extremely time-consuming, particularly in more severe incidents. By using our template, EMS personnel can save time and resources that this process would usually consume, spending more time in providing their patients with the best experience.
Enhance communication
Much of the incident details are communicated verbally when transitioning a patient from EMS transport to a health center. Although verbal communication is essential for passing over the main information, it can often result in inaccurate or incomplete hand-off.
Using our template, communication between EMS personnel and receiving health practitioners may be improved, as the document can fill in missing information or be used as a reference to check patient health status details.
Ongoing accessibility
The EMS Report Template can be accessed online at any time, which is essential given the spontaneous nature of an emergency. Furthermore, the template can also be printed for physical reference if that is what the practitioner prefers.
Effective documentation
Effective patient care documentation is essential for patient care, as it provides essential information regarding health status, informs next steps, and updates patient medical history. Our template can be used as an assurance tool to enhance adherence to documentation protocols and ensure that all information is organized in a logical manner. This can help inform future patient diagnoses and treatments.
Why use Carepatron as your EMS Report app?
Carepatron’s EMS Report Template app and software are the ideal way to manage your clinical documentation.
As an online platform, Carepatron allows ongoing access to information and resources like this template. This can enhance the transition of patient care from EMS personnel to emergency department physicians by providing all information regarding patient care and health status that is required for well-informed procedures.
With a user-friendly interface, our EMS Report Template app allows practitioners quick access to EMS reports and patient records. This can allow for proactive patient care procedures to manage emergencies.
Given that these practitioners collaborate, the transition from EMS to receiving health centers relies on effective communication. By using Carepatron, practitioners can enhance their verbal and written communication by ensuring all details are passed on effectively. Furthermore, our software allows teams of practitioners to share their patient notes, EMS reports, and treatment procedures easily.
Our vision at Carepatron is to provide revolutionary solutions that enhance practitioner and patient experiences. By simplifying and integrating administrative tasks, our technology saves time and resources usually consumed by normative clinical practices, allowing practitioners to focus more on patient care.
You can begin enhancing your practice and improving patient care with Carepatron today!
References
Alatis, A. S., Monahon, B. V., Raymond, A. D., Hudson, K. B., Vieth, J. T., & Nable, J. V. (2020). Checklists Improve EMS Documentation. Quality Improvement in a Collegiate-Based EMS Agency. The Journal of Collegiate Emergency Medical Services. https://www.collegeems.com/checklists-improve-ems-documentation/
Chen, C., Kan, T., Li, S., Qiu, C., & Gui, L. (2016). Use and implementation of standard operating procedures and checklists in prehospital emergency medicine: a literature review. The American Journal of Emergency Medicine 34(12), 2432-2439. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajem.2016.09.057
Laudermilch, D. J., Schiff, M. A., Nathens, A. B., & Rosengart, M. R. (2010). Lack of Emergency Medical Services Documentation Is Associated with Poor Patient Outcomes: A Validation of Audit Filters for Prehospital Trauma Care. Journal of the american College of Surgeons, 210(2), 220-227. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2009.10.008
Short, M., & Goldstein, S. (2022). EMS Documentation. StatPearls [Internet]. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK448107/
Commonly asked questions
An EMS report can be simply created by using our EMS Report Template! The template structures all of the relevant patient details in one ready-to-use document.
EMS Report Templates can be used in a variety of scenarios but is primarily designed to be used when completing EMS report documents.
The templates are used as a resource to organize essential EMS patient care information. Practitioners simply follow the instructions in our guide to fill out the sections of the template with relevant patient information.
These templates are most typically created by practitioners involved in EMS, such as paramedics and emergency department physicians.
