“The effort to create a comprehensive and unified EMS data collection system for California has been high on our priority list for the past year and, thanks to wonderful cooperation from our partners at the local level, we are pleased to announce the successful kick-off of the CEMSIS-EMS,” said Dr. Steve Tharratt, Director of the Emergency Medical Services Authority.
CEMSIS is an outgrowth of NEMSIS - the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s National EMS Information System. The project was funded and developed specifically to correspond with the national database for collecting injured patient data to assist efforts in injury prevention related to traffic safety, but it offers a larger picture of EMS beyond traffic collisions.
“CEMSIS began accepting data from local EMS agencies throughout the state in the first week of December. The data will be used to create a timely, accurate and uniform overview of EMS use and outcomes to assist in policy development, system evaluation, prevention activities, and quality improvement measures.
“In California, data is collected at the local EMS agency level, yet due to variances in local mechanisms for collecting data including selection of data elements and associated definitions, the information collected is not the same across the State,” explained EMSA’s EMS Systems Division Chief Bonnie Sinz. “With CEMSIS providing a uniform data collection system, valuable information regarding care and outcome for patients will be available for use in assessing performance and quality and to inform future policy decisions and directions for EMS and trauma care in California.”
Initially, 15 EMS agencies are participating in the CEMSIS-EMS system, and 15 EMS agencies are participating in CEMSIS-Trauma. The EMS Authority recently completed nine training sessions for 300 participants across the state to introduce local agencies to the EMS component of the CEMSIS system. The training included a visual tutorial of NEMSIS’ national data query and data cube, use of an electronic prehospital data record, how to build a data collection system from the ground up, use of data for surveillance, grant funding opportunities, and how to read and understand the EMS data dictionary. Additionally, each attending agency received free probabilistic matching software to assist in the matching of patient records from divergent data systems.
