It is Paramedic Services Week and the RPPEO would like to acknowledge and honor the hard work and dedication of the paramedics of Eastern Ontario. Over the past year more has been asked of paramedics than ever before, and you have answered the call. Every day you respond to calls for help from the ill and injured. Each call for service is made by someone who sees or feels a problem they believe they cannot manage on their own, and there is a noble place in history for those who come to help.

We're thrilled to share an exciting update that will improve patient care: the expansion of Online Medical Consultation (OMC) services to two more base hospitals - the Centre for Paramedic Education and Research (CPER) in Hamilton, and Health Sciences North (HSN) in Sudbury.

RPPEO Spring 2024 CME is launching online on Wednesday, March 13. The RPPEO's Spring continuing medical education module is aimed at ACPs. PCPs from paramedic services supporting participation are also welcome to participate in the Spring session.

RPPEO today emailed a Spring 2024 CME Launch Letter containing details of the education to each certified paramedic in our region.

Paramedic services will have participants' class schedule as we move into the classroom period this Spring.

We are looking forward to seeing you!

A new RPPEO Medical Advisory is in effect.

Medical Advisory on Cardiac Arrest On-scene Resuscitation Time (2024-01) provides clinical practice guidance for RPPEO-certified paramedics.

You may find this Medical Advisory and other written RPPEO guidance in the Policies and Practices section of RPPEO.ca.

In this issue of MedicNEWS:

• Spring 2024 CME Announced! in Continuing Education
• Paramedics on the Front Lines of the Opioid Crisis in BHP Corner
• Corresponding about Quality & Safety
• A New Clinical Bulletin to Help Your Practice
• RPPEO is Hiring in Announcements

MedicNEWS is the RPPEO bi-monthly news magazine for paramedics in Eastern Ontario.

You can browse the MedicNEWS catalogue or find articles on topics you're interested in by visiting the MedicNEWS page on RPPEO.ca.

Read February 2024 MedicNEWS

The Ontario Base Hospital Group (OBHG) is seeking applications for new representation from front line paramedics for all provincial committees:

• Ontario Base Hospital Group Medical Advisory Committee (OBHG MAC) -2
• Data Quality Management Subcommittee (DQM) -1
• Education Subcommittee (ESC) -1

 Term: April 1, 2024 – March 31, 2027

For more information about this opportunity and how to apply, please see the invitation on the OBHG website. Note that the application deadline is March 1, 2024.

More information about OHBG and its committees is available by visiting the Paramedics section of the OBHG website. 

A new RPPEO Clinical Bulletin on Opioid Use Disorder, Buprenorphine/naloxone, and Naloxone is now available.

This Clinical Bulletin provides paramedic practice guidance from the Regional Medical Director on the appropriate administration of naloxone in the context of opioid toxicity, and differentiates naloxone from the new combined medication for opioid withdrawal in the prehospital context, buprenorphine/naloxone.

Paramedics are invited to consult Health Canada's posted version of the Canadian monograph for buprenorphine/naloxone (trade name "Suboxone") for more detailed information of this new drug's pharmacology, indications, contraindications, and risk management.

We invite paramedics who have questions or concerns about this Clinical Bulletin, naloxone, buprenorphine/naloxone, Opioid Use Disorder, or opioids more generally to contact quality@RPPEO.ca.

Note that RPPEO has not yet authorized any paramedic use of the auxiliary aspects of the Opioid Toxicity and Withdrawal Medical Directive in the ALS PCS. While buprenorphine/naloxone is not yet available for paramedic administration within the RPPEO jurisdiction, we are planning the infrastructure and training needed to support implementation of this important treatment.

Each paramedic may find their current practice authorizations in the most recent RPPEO Certification Letter available within the 'My Profile' section on MedicNET. When RPPEO issues a new Certification Letter, it is also provided to the paramedic via email.

This is the first RPPEO Clinical Bulletin. The format is intended to provide clinical discussion about issues affecting paramedic practice. RPPEO Clinical Bulletins communicate the best front-line strategies for emerging clinical issues in the region using rich formats with text, images, charts or other visual supports. In contrast to Medical Advisories, Clinical Bulletins do not provide new direction; rather, they clarify concepts and inform paramedics and other partners about clinical practice.

RPPEO Clinical Bulletins are available at RPPEO.ca in the RPPEO Policies section. 

The Ministry of Health has issued a revised version of the Advanced Life Support Patient Care Standards (ALS PCS). Version 5.2.1 came into force on January 10, 2024.

ALS PCS v5.2.1 corrected the adult doses for atropine and the pediatric doses for pralidoxime in both the PCP and ACP Nerve Agent Exposure Medical Directives.

The Regional Paramedic Program for Eastern Ontario (RPPEO) has revised several of our policies.

Paramedics and others for whom RPPEO policies provide guidance should note that there are two important updates to policies CLI 180 and CLI 230. Most of the other policies reviewed received minor revisions that do not substantively impact the guidance.

The revised policies and all RPPEO Policies are available in the online Policy Manual. Read on for more detail on the policy updates.