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D.C. EMS Assessment Video Leads to Questions

Chris Gordon

Video never seen before by the public shows paramedics reacting to a life or death situation -- a simulation used to evaluate their performance in an emergency.

These assessments were performed last year at the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute at the University of Maryland. It's known as MFRI.

Where the assessments took place looks like an ambulance, but it is an advanced life support simulator. A mannequin displayed certain health problems that led to a heart attack.

The faces of the paramedics are not shown to protect their identities. To evaluate their performance we asked an nationally-recognized expert to choose and review some of the videos. Professor Paul Werfel is the director of the EMT/paramedic program at the Stony Brook University Medical Center in New York.

"Of the videos that I saw, solely on the videos that I saw, the mistakes that these folks were making were huge," Werfel said. "The performance across the board was substandard. "I looked at 16 videos and of those 16 videos only one of which would have passed an entry level exam for competence on fundamentals," he said.

Read the full article: Critical Condition: D.C. Paramedics Up to Par?.