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Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and Trauma – Organizations

American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP)
Represents physicians who practice emergency medicine and provides education, advocacy, and research opportunities. Oversees the Section of Rural Emergency Medicine that develops and shares information related to pre-hospital, initial primary hospital, and tertiary hospitals that provide care for rural emergency patients.
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American College of Surgeons (ACS)
Works to improve the care of surgical patients and provides opportunities for education and practice. Sponsors the Rural Trauma Team Development Course and maintains a listing of rural surgery training programs in the U.S.
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Center for Rural Emergency Services and Trauma (CREST)
Works to improve rural healthcare delivery, collaborates among hospital networks, shares best practices, and provides resources for network hospitals. Offers education, regional protocols, publications, and other resources.
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Coalition for National Trauma Research (CNTR)
Supports the study of trauma prevention, research, and trauma systems design in efforts to engage surgeons to meet the challenges in reducing death and disability caused by trauma.
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Comprehensive Advanced Life Support (CALS)
Provides an emergency medical training curriculum for medical teams in rural areas. Focused on those who provide emergency care in rural areas, including physicians, paramedics, nurses, and advanced practitioners.
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Emergency Medical Services for Children: Innovation & Improvement Center (EMSC IIC)
Works to improve the quality of EMS and trauma care for children. Collaborates with state partners to adequately prepare for the emergency care of children. Provides resources, training, and research updates.
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National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians (NAEMT)
Represents the professional interests of emergency medical services (EMS) practitioners, including paramedics, emergency medical technicians, emergency medical responders, and community paramedicine. Membership organization that provides accredited, continuing education courses for EMS practitioners, and the development of national standards.
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National Association of EMS Educators (NAEMSE)
Promotes EMS education, develops educational resources, and advocates research and lifelong learning. Supports instructors, program directors, deans, training officers, EMS physicians, EMS nurses, and EMS state officials.
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National Association of EMS Physicians (NAEMSP)
Provides leadership, advocacy, resources, and education for emergency medical service (EMS) physician members responsible for medical care in the pre-hospital setting. Includes information for rural EMS, community paramedicine and mobile integrated healthcare, wilderness EMS, and emergency preparedness.
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National Association of State EMS Officials (NASEMSO)
Develops emergency medical service (EMS) policy and resources for national, state, regional, and local EMS systems. Includes a Rural EMS Committee with a focus on participation in the Joint Committee on Rural Emergency Care (JCREC).
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National EMS Management Association (NEMSMA)
Conducts research to develop and identify emergency medical service (EMS) management best practices and promotes education and advocacy for its members.
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National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC)
Represents the interests of member organizations, including volunteer fire, emergency medical services (EMS), first responder, and rescue services. Provides training, advocacy, education, resources, and programs. Addresses recruitment and retention challenges which include the aging of volunteer firefighters, commuting distances in rural areas, increased training requirements, time demand, and more.
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Technical Assistance and Services Center (TASC)
Assists states with all aspects of the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program (Flex Program), including Critical Access Hospitals (CAH) conversion, networking, integrating EMS services into rural medical delivery systems, and performance improvement. TASC is the technical assistance center for the Flex Program, and a program of the National Rural Health Resource Center.
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Last Reviewed: 8/11/2022