Thanks in no small part to the association that represents them, emergency medical technicians have a useful tool for reporting incidents that pose a safety risk to themselves or the patients they assist.

Now, the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians (NAEMT) is encouraging wider use of the EMS Voluntary Event Notification Tool (E.V.E.N.T.), an online platform for reporting “near miss” incidents, as well as those involving risks to patient safety or violence against an EMT.

Supported by NAEMT, the Center for Leadership, Innovation, and Research in EMS, and a variety of other EMS groups—E.V.E.N.T. allows for anonymous reporting of such incidents for assessment purposes. It was inspired by a similar system used by airline pilots, which resulted in improvements that have helped save lives, according to the E.V.E.N.T. website.

In recent comments on the E.V.E.N.T. system, NAEMT made a fresh push for anonymous submissions by its members.

“When you submit an incident to E.V.E.N.T. and encourage colleagues to do so, you contribute greater understanding of how adverse incidents affect both patients and practitioners,” the group stated last month. “By studying the data from the reports submitted, industry leaders and policy makers can better assess risky situations, understand the causes of medical errors, and develop policies, practices and resources in response.”

Just six instances were reported in the most recent quarterly E.V.E.N.T. Provider Violence Report [PDF] and eight in the EMS Patient Safety Event Report [PDF] for the most recent quarter. But the reports provide significant detail, including what happened during the situation, how it was handled by officials, and what can be learned from it.

The data will inform policymakers who can make better decisions based on the information collected, NAEMT says, noting that “timely aggregated reports submitted through a variety of venues will make E.V.E.N.T. a living mechanism for change.”

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