NYC EMS

For National Emergency Medical Services Week, Staten Island University Hospital staged a competition that pitted local EMS providers against each other to test their skills. NY1's Amanda Farinacci filed this report. "Grandma" is a 70-year-old smoker with heart disease who is having trouble breathing. A call to 911 brings a team of paramedics and emergency medical technicians to assess her condition: "Grandma" is not a real patient, but the crews responding to her are real. For National Emergency Medical Services Week, Staten Island University Hospital staged a competition that pitted local EMS providers against each other to test their skills. Working on a remote-controlled mannequin, seven teams of four faced simulated patients with all types of life-threatening emergencies in the first annual so-called "Sim Lab Wars." While it's a friendly competition, the drill was meant to sharpen the skills of EMTs and paramedics. "Each call, you have to take it one step at a time and follow the process and do your size up and do your assessment and everything comes together," said paramedic James Martin. "[You're able] to get a hands-on feel for the patient without actually having a real patient," said Glenn Asadeda, the medical director for the New York City Fire Department. "It's one of the closest things that you can get to a real patient," Emergency room doctors watched the simulation and talked over the results with the teams after it was over. Teams were scored by a panel of five judges, They were graded in specific categories, such as how well they interacted with a patient and how well they followed protocols. The doctors say it was a rare opportunity to improve communication with the people who treat their patients before they arrive at the hospital. "It's imperative that what they're doing is translated to the emergency department when the patient is received, especially in a critically ill patient," said Paul Barbara, an emergency medicine doctor. "I try my best to take the medicine side outside to the streets and take the street side inside to the docs.