EZIO Comes to the Shore

by Kevin T. Holloway

 

Eastern Shore Advanced Life Support providers now have a new tool in their patient care “toolboxes.” The EZ-IO system had previously been approved by the Operational Medical Directors Committee of the Tidewater EMS Council and has now been placed on Eastern Shore units following the completion of local training programs. 

 

The system, which includes a battery-powered drill, allows for a stainless steel needle to be inserted into the flat aspect of a bone, allowing for fluids and/or medications to be delivered into the central circulation via the vessels surrounding the bone marrow.  The primary site for insertion is along the medial aspect of the patient’s tibia, with the humeral head in the upper arm also listed as an approved site. Studies have shown that the fluids and medications administered through the system can reach the heart in as fast as 4-6 seconds, making the IO route a viable option in the situation were peripheral or even external jugular IV attempts have been unsuccessful. 

 

To incorporate the use if the EZ-IO in our local protocols, the OMD committee changed the existing Vascular Access Protocol to include the use of the EZ-IO system at the Intermediate and Paramedic levels. 

 

The training program, consisting of a brief lecture followed by hands-on skills practice, was developed by the devices’ manufacturer and was recently held on the Shore in a series of workshops.  Local providers Maryann Fitchett, Kevin Holloway, Troy Justis, and David McCready instructed the Shore’s EMT-Intermediates and EMT-Paramedics in the proper use of the device. 

 

The EZ-IO kits were then distributed to each agency with the cost of the kits covered by a Rescue Squad Assistance Fund Grant received by the Tidewater EMS Council, the parent council of our local Eastern Shore EMS Council.  Replacement needles are to be stocked at Shore Memorial Hospital as part of our on-going supply replacement program. 

 

The Eastern Shore EMS Council is pleased to have further enhanced our ability to deliver high quality patient care to the residents of the Eastern Shore. 

 

The Council is presently working on a short-term goal of adding CPAP systems and some discussion is ongoing about the potential benefits of 12-lead ECG monitoring as a longer-term project.  It is the mission of the Council to work with our local agencies and TEMS, our parent agency to further the mission of providing the best possible pre-hospital patient care to the residents and visitors of Accomack and Northampton Counties.