OFFICE OF THE MEDICAL DIRECTOR EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES HOUSTON FIRE DEPARTMENT

The EMS Medical Director is responsible for all medical aspects of pre-hospital patient care. The Medical Director has the authority to approve the level of pre-hospital care which may be rendered by each of the department�s members, establish and monitor compliance with field performance guidelines, and establish and monitor training standards. Our staff of physicians and nurses provide on-line and/or on-scene medical direction for all critical patients 24 hours per day. All of the medical staff assist in the development and revision of protocols, medical standing orders, continuing education programs as well as addressing equipment and legislative issues.

The City of Houston is a six-hundred plus square mile area spread out over a 1000 square mile region in Southeast Texas. It has a night-time population of nearly two million people and over three million daytime population. One out of every ten citizens utilize EMS. Each year there are over 200,000 EMS incidents involving over 225,000 patients or potential patients. On the average, EMS responds to a citizen every 3 minutes. Each EMS response is made by one of 88 City of Houston EMS vehicles. Thirty seven of these are staffed by two paramedics and provide Advanced Life Support (ALS) capabilities. These consist of fifteen ALS Squads, and twenty-two ALS transport units with eight functioning in a "Dual" capacity as both ALS or BLS. The remaining fifty-one transport units are Basic Life Support (BLS), and staffed by two EMTS.

2011 GUIDELINES! ... HFD's Medical Protocols for 2011 (Effective 9/1/11)

Intranasal Training Video Click Here

Specialized Hospital List Click Here

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�2008 City of Houston, Fire Department