University of New Mexico EMS Physician Scene Response Program

The UNM EMS Physician Scene Response Program provides emergency physician-level care to the public in the Albuquerque area.

On-call EMS physicians are available for phone consultation and scene response with any EMS agencies affiliated with the UNM EMS Medical Direction Consortium. UNM EMS physicians respond in fully-equipped vehicles that provide equipment and expertise not generally available to traditional EMS services. This includes advanced pharmacology, airway management, and ultrasound.

EMS Fellows (doctors who have completed their residencies in emergency medicine and are studying EMS intensively for an extra year after residency) and Senior Emergency Medicine Residents provide primary response. Core EMS faculty physicians from the UNM EMS Consortium provide backup and supervisory response.

The UNM EMS Physician Scene Response Program has several goals:

• Teaching and learning: Enhancing the education of EMS providers and quality of EMS care by offering real-time feedback at the scene of a call. Learning is a two-way street – EMS physicians learn about the complicated realities of EMS work from the experts, the men and women of the local Fire and EMS agencies
• Enhanced patient care: EMS Physicians bring special tools and skills to complicated situations, such as:
  • Advanced procedures: RSI, chemical extrication, ultrasound, etc.
  • Assistance with high-risk patient refusals and combative patients
    • Additional sedation options for combative patients
  • Assistance with release at scene of patients with minor conditions, both for everyday incidents as well as for mass casualty incidents and disasters
  • HazMat situations
  • Response to occupational exposures and injured providers
  • Assist with critical care inter-facility transports
  • Back-up to ILS/BLS units
• EMS System Support: Improved system design and functioning through:
  • Direct feedback to training agencies
  • Direct feedback to Medical Control Board
  • Direct feedback to receiving hospitals and MCEPs

All physicians who participate in the program have received specialty training to function as EMS Physicians in the field. At a minimum, responding physicians possess the following minimum training or equivalent, though most have extensive background as former EMS providers:

• Emergency Vehicle Operating Course (EVOC)
• Medical Control Emergency Physician (MCEP)
• Advanced HazMat Life Support (AHLS)
• Vehicle extrication
• Incident Command System
• Basic tactical medicine course
• Radio Operations
• Fire-ground awareness
• Introduction to Prehospital Care
Responses can be requested by any EMS agency participating in the UNM EMS Medical Direction Consortium through UNM Lifeguard Dispatch at (505) 272-3115.