Office of Injury Prevention

Overview

Florida’s PIER for EMS Injury Prevention course was developed through a mini-grant from STIPDA (State and Territorial Injury Prevention Directors Association). The mini-grant’s purpose was to develop a course to help Emergency Medical Service (EMS) providers understand their role in identifying, applying and evaluating injury prevention strategies within their communities. A 25-member statewide PIER Panel was established consisting of EMS personnel experienced in injury prevention. The panel held a two-day workshop in Jacksonville on May 26–27, 2004 and developed an eight-hour course based on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Public Information, Education and Relations for Emergency Medical Services Curriculum – Injury Prevention Modules. The topic areas included: (1) Injury prevention basics (2) Personal injury prevention for pre-hospital professionals (3) EMS as role model and teacher (4) Data collection and risk assessment and (5) Strategies for implementing effective safety coalition.

As a result of the pilot course, held on June 30, 2004 in Tallahassee, revisions were made to the course. The initial course was taught in conjunction with the EMS Advisory Council meeting in Orlando on July 6, 2004. It was then taught in Miami on January 18, 2005 and in Jacksonville on February 9, 2005. The knowledge and skills gained from this course helped EMS personnel routinely practice primary injury prevention.

The PIER mini-grant ended in March 2005. Afterwards, the course was revised to become an educational tool for all injury prevention stakeholders. A stakeholder faculty was established through the Florida Injury Prevention Advisory Council. The one-day comprehensive Injury Prevention 101 course was presented annually as an in-person training, to Florida’s injury prevention community from 2006–2010. The course is now available on DVD through the Office of Injury Prevention.

The EMS Advisory Council voted in April 2004, to expand the council’s Injury Prevention Committee to include the PIER Panel members. The combined group was renamed the PIER Committee. The PIER Committee serves in an advisory capacity to the EMS Advisory Council on injury related issues and meets on the same schedule as the council. The PIER Committee is responsible for implementing Goal 3 of the EMS State Plan, “Improve customer satisfaction through injury prevention, public education, and knowledge of the EMS system.”

In addition, the chair of the PIER Committee serves on the Florida Injury Prevention Advisory Council, and the director of the Office of Injury Prevention serves as a liaison on the PIER Committee.

Under Florida law, e-mail addesses are public records. If you do not want your e-mail address released in response to a public records request, do not send electronic mail to this entity. Instead, contact this office by phone or in writing.

For more information, contact the Office of Injury Prevention, or call (850)245-4440.

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