Attributes of Success – Assessment
In the summer of 2015, the Wisconsin Office of Rural Health convened a national group of EMS leaders to create a mechanism to assess the capacity of ambulance services. The goal was to create an assessment instrument that could be used on multiple levels:
- By individual ambulance services, to identify their strengths and areas for improvement, benchmarked against other services across the state and nation;
- By state agencies and organizations, seeking more information about the status of the EMS system, and looking to target funding to specific issues and to cohorts of like-performing services;
- By federal agencies, seeking to identify funding needs on a state-by-state basis and measure outcomes of that funding.
With that in mind, 20 “Attributes of a Successful Rural Ambulance Service” were identified and a questionnaire developed to measure services’ adoption of each attribute. Distributed as an electronic survey, the self-assessment lists each attribute of success, and the participant places their service within a five-point range of adoption – building from, “Say what, again?” to “We’ve adopted this attribute to the Gold Standard.” Examples for each point on that scale are provided so there is consistency; a “3” on the scale means the same for everyone.
Download the assessment: EMS Attribute Questionnaire
For statewide distribution, we strongly recommend utilizing an electronic survey tool. Our office has helped other states roll this out, please contact Penny Black (WORH’s Data and Evaluation Program Manager) with questions.
Attributes of Success – Workbook
While the assessment itself sketches out a roadmap toward improvement, services may have questions about how to proceed, or appreciate more in-depth guidance in implementing new procedures. Our office turned to Paul Anderson of the Paramedic Foundation, to create a manual for that purpose, and it is available free-of-charge below. Feel free to share it with anyone you think may benefit from it.
EMS Attributes of Success Workbook
Permission for use
Both the assessment and workbook were produced by the WI Office of Rural Health, and are provided free of charge to any ambulance service or organization working with ambulance services, under the Creative Commons Non-Commercial license:
You are free to copy, distribute, display, perform, modify, and use this work for any purpose other than commercial gain, under the following conditions: Attribution — In products related to the use of any of these tools, please give credit to the Wisconsin Office of Rural Health as the original creator of the tool and indicate if changes were made; you may make changes in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the Wisconsin Office of Rural Health endorses you or your use. Non-Commercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes.