The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), NHTSA is seeking a contractor to assist in generating and disseminating evidence-based information and tools to the EMS community.
These findings and tools will empower the EMS community to develop fatigue management programs at the local level in order to improve ambulance safety on the road as well as for more effective and safer patient care.
A number of recently published scientific articles have demonstrated that not only is severe fatigue present in around 50% of EMS providers surveyed but that drowsy or fatigued EMS providers are substantially more likely to be injured on the job, commit a medical error, or perform a safety-compromising behavior.
The overall objectives of this contract are to:
- Bring together a panel of experts to define the specific fatigue related clinical questions and outcomes to be addressed in an Evidence Based Guidelines creation process
- Perform a literature review, generate an annotated bibliography, and create evidence tables
- Develop evidence based guidelines on fatigue mitigation in EMS
- Develop performance measures for tracking the effectiveness of the fatigue EBGs
- Produce a final report, a conference presentation, and a manuscript for submission to a peer-reviewed journal
- Produce a Publication for EMS Systems and Personnel
- Create a Software/Web Tool to Assist in EMS Workforce Scheduling
- Develop a Fatigue Reporting Instrument for the EMS Community
- Disseminate fatigue EBGs to stakeholders
The performance period for this contract is a base period of 24 months. The anticipated award date for the resultant contract is expected to be on or about July 2015.
Further details are available via Solicitation Number: DTNH2215R00022.