Allegheny General Hospital emergency medicine residents are routinely tasked with providing medical command, or online medical advice, to responding EMS crews. Resident physicians acting under the oversight of the Allegheny General Hospital's command umbrella, answer questions related to EMS protocols, patient treatment, refusals of care, and other prehospital interventions. Residents are expected to serve as a resource for the region's EMS crews and remain familiar with EMS treatment protocols and the scope of prehospital medical practice. Second year residents are assigned the role of "ground command" and regularly interface with responding ambulance services. The senior emergency medicine resident is the "flight command physician," and relays information about the response to critically ill patients at the scene of an emergency or at an outside hospital who may require aeromedical evacuation and treatment. 
BECOMING A MEDICAL COMMAND PHYSICIAN

1. AGH Medical Command Lecture Series 
Residents tasked with providing on line medical direction will ideally attend the in-person command lecture series. The lecture series consists of a basic overview of EMS related activities in addition to ground and flight specific information. Case based scenarios are incorporated into a separate lecture. Residents who are unable to attend the in-person series should download the lectures and complete the physician attestation and assessment form. An EMS medical director will then sign off on your credentials.  The AGH lectures are specific to the ground agencies you are likely to encounter. In addition, the flight lecture series reviews information specific to the operation of the network's rotor wing critical care transport service. The AGH lectures are hosted online and found in the section entitled, "EMS Medical Command Physician Resources" below. PLEASE copy the residency office and our EMS Coordinator on any correspondence with the state office so that we can maintain a record of your MEDICAL COMMAND NUMBER 

2. Obtaining a Medical Command Number
The Pennsylvania Department of Health, Bureau of EMS, has specific policies and procedures related to the credentialing of physicians. Intern physicians must register with the department of health and forward the completed form to the regional EMS office. Once you have a Medical Command Number, you'll be able to log on to the TrainPA site. The TrainPA site is where medical command modules, protocol updates, and other official EMS courses are hosted. 

3. Obtaining a Logon for the TrainPA site and Completing Additional Training
The Bureau of EMS also requires that medical command physicians complete protocol updates and initial medical command training. These modules are the same for EVERY credentialed medical command physician in the state of Pennsylvania. Download the website's form to request the Logon for TrainPA. Complete the following courses online:
a)  Medical Command Modules 
b) Protocol updates 

In Summary: 
  • Intern physicians must download and complete a request for the a Bureau of EMS Medical Command Physician Number (This step is NOT required for junior and senior residents who already have an official number from the state!) 
  • Once the Medical Command Number is obtained, download and complete the request for the TrainPA website
  • Complete Medical Command Modules hosted on the TrainPA website
  • If unable to attend the in-person AGH EMS Command lecture series, download (and complete) the lectures online. 
  • Complete the "Physician Attestation and Assessment" form and copy the resident office on your correspondence



EMS MEDICAL COMMAND RESOURCES

Lectures, forms, and helpful links are hosted online. Please advise if you are unable to download any of the attached lectures/information.