Meeting & Agendas

Don Gwynn welcomes Committee Members. Introduction of committee members. Meeting Minutes from the last committee were approved.

o Faculty/Staff – No new Faculty. We have hired a few new Adjunct Faculty. We try to keep a cap of 40 adjunct faculty members and there are about 10-15 in line for next available spots. o Clinical • Holographic “Acuity” Lab – Update – Began this lab last year. It went very smoothly at first, but ran into some technical bugs in the past couple of semesters. Working fine this semester. The objective is to have students only judge the acuity of the patient within the first 30 seconds to a minute in these labs. There is still only one demographic of patient represented but the company is working on expanding that. • Airway Lab – As a result of our losing the O.R. clinical a few years ago, we had to replace the live intubation requirements with simulations in the lab. The students run through simulations requiring airway management. It has been going well. • MFAEMS – Is not a field clinical site as of this semester. Johnny Campbell reports it is going well. The committee thanks Marble Falls for the opportunity to send students to ride out with them. o Other/Misc. • Simulations Equipment –Wireless use – We are hoping to try and fully use the WiFi capabilities of these new mannequins which we’ve had for the past few years. The challenge will be live-streaming during scenarios. We hope to begin “beta” testing this semester. • Trauma Mannequins – We have purchased two so far and are hoping to purchase two more. These should replace our airway mannequins and offer a variety of other uses as well including thoracentesis and cricothyrotomy. • EMT Class Additions – Hays, HSA – Update – Hays started off with low enrollment but was up to almost capacity this semester. Course retention and success rates seem to match those of the other programs. • The Health Science Academy has about 7 students signed up for the EMT program for the upcoming Spring. Over the past couple of Spring semesters, this class success rates seems to be the same as the other classes although only about half of the completing students applies to take the NREMT exam. • University Articulations Agreements – Bachelor’s Agreement with Texas Tech in place in which our graduates can transfer their AAS degree to enter the program. We are pursuing another with Texas State for entry into their new BSHS program. It is currently in Progress. We are interested in helping our graduates continue their education and will be pursuing other opportunities including UTHSCSA.

o NREMT IOOH Update – The students are doing well overall with this scenario. Still some growing pains in implementation. o Skills • Video Laryngoscope Update – We have been teaching but not testing as of last Fall for this skill. We started testing it this semester in 1356 (first semester) but due to the confusion experienced by the students in learning both direct and video laryngoscopy in the same semester, we will instead be testing it in 2137 (second semester). Per committee suggestions, we will explore other options in addition like Vivitrac. Don invites the different services to let us, as a program, know if there are any new techniques and equipment that they will be implementing.

o Enrollment – • We have seen a drop in enrollment over the last couple of years. Our Summer semester startups have decreased significantly since 4th and 5th semester classes are not offered in the Summer. EMT enrollment was also down resulting in the Hays class not meeting. We had 15 students come in for the Fall semester, under our normal Fall enrollment. We were at capacity for the EMT program in all classes. • We are scheduled to go online in the Spring. We have added a 10 cap section for the 1st semester courses where the lectures will be online and the labs would be done on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. This plan is being implemented in the hopes of making the program more accessible to FT working students. We hope to roll out the entire program, semester at a time, beginning in Spring. o Demographics – • Classes are predominantly white, male, and between 25-30 years old. Younger males in the 18-21 age group attribute most to the low retention in our EMT classes. Females from the 19-30 year old range tend to have the highest retention rates but it goes down significantly in this demographic older than 30. • These demographics are comparable to the national EMS employment and educational data. We see about a 10-15 point increase compared to national in Hispanic and female enrollment but about a 5 to 10 point decrease in the Black demographic. • There are different ways that we are analyzing our data in order to come up with action plans that will help us reach a more diverse demographic. Next step is to analyze success rates and compare. We’ve already begun with the EMT classes. o Pass/Fail Statistics • NREMT Exam – 2018 EMT – 96% 1st try and 99% by the third try. EMSP (Paramedic) 2018 – 100% 1st attempt. • Topic Area Performance – Well above the national average for each subtopic in both EMT and Paramedic. o Post-Grad Employment – • Approximately 83% are employed. 14% are unknown. 3% unrelated.

o Terminal Goals/Objectives – • Revisiting OR Rotations. Gabe Logan has contacted the Supervisor of the OR at Seton Main and they want our students in the OR. We are currently in negotiations to get this done as early as Spring. • Other clinical Opportunities. – We do have a possible new opportunity for a new Cadaver clinical rotation at the Spring Branch facility. The faculty will attend a class in January. Matt states that they send their SMHC EMS employees to Spring Branch once a year. Andy with ATCEMS states they use Med to Market for their employees and would also be another option that we will look into. Don – There is an ACC simulation center that will be opening up soon at the Highland Learning Center. The hope is the program will be able to participate in interdepartmental scenarios. o Clinical Goals/Objectives – • We are currently seeking out and have leads on other clinical field opportunities. Fayette County EMS has reached out to the program. o Graduation Requirements – • Terminal Competencies  Fall 2018 – 100% requirements reached  Spring 2019 – 100% requirements reached

o Student Responses/Analysis – Don goes over the student survey results for 2018. • Strengths – Faculty/Staff, Curriculum, Clinical Time and labs. • Weaknesses – Faculty Instruction Consistency – This tends to be issues between students and preceptors, FISDAP and WiFi – ACC has undergone many changes with their Domains and Cyber Security and these changes have affected our WiFi access once again. o Faculty Responses/Analysis – • Strengths – Faculty/Staff, Curriculum, Medical Director and Lab/Clinical Experiences • Weaknesses – Lab/Class Sizes, FISDAP, Budget for new equipment, Medical Director Contact (Adjunct?) and loss of OR Clinical. o Employer Responses/Analysis – • Strengths – Knowledge. • Weaknesses – Confidence and Scene Management. o Graduate Responses/Analysis – • Strengths – Faculty/Staff, Knowledge and Clinical opportunities. • Weaknesses – Operational Roles and Scene Management.

o Overall • Strengths – Faculty/Preceptors in clinical. Clinical Experience, Curriculum and Affective Reinforcement. • Weaknesses – WiFi, Space, Operational Role, Instructor/Preceptor Inconsistencies and Scene Management. o Opportunities – • New clinical Sites? • OR • Cadaver Lab? • Field – Clinical Availability. Fayette County will be contacted for participation. • Online Classes – 1st semester in the spring, 2nd semester in the summer, etc. We will have quizzes embedded into the lectures to ensure they are listening to them before they can attend the corresponding labs. Question – How will you set up time for Q&A? Answer – Faculty will be required to have additional office hours for the section additions. Discussion boards will be set up and the students will be required to participate in online group discussions concerning topics. We will keep the committee apprised as to how it goes. • Final 2 Semesters back in Summer • Justification – Our significant drop in Summer enrollment is a huge factor in justifying adding our last two semester courses in the Summer because there will be no gap in the students’ education. • Obstacles – The biggest obstacle would be clinical opportunities. Difficult to have he students complete field clinicals because of site availability. • Opportunities – ATCEMS says that they might be able to help more with opportunities since they look to decrease the need for academies. ATCEMS brings up CHP as a possible solution for clinical opportunities for our students with them. o Potential Threats – • Internship/Clinical Sites • Space – Has been an issue for a while but the addition of the evening labs will stretch room space even more. Pat Recek states the HSA building might be an option for labs for the online sections. That would open up lab space for evening Paramedic Labs at EVC. Hays campus may also be an option. • EMSP 1501/1160 – Loss of 6 Credit Hours (POS Curriculum). The POS advisory committee put together by the Texas Higher Education board to standardize EMS education programs in the state submitted for review curriculum standards. Overall, no existing classes in the program would be omitted but one suggestion by the committee was to incorporate the EMT classes into the paramedic program, effectively forcing us to reduce program hours by 6 credit hours to maintain the mandatory cap of 60. No firm decision has been made yet but the program director was told to plan for it. • 2137/2237 – Lab based classes that accompany clinical sections. We believe these are invaluable. We are the only program that offers these two classes in their programs. Because of this, we should consider them as in danger of being retired by WECM at some point. We have a contingent plan to roll over these lost hours into the corresponding clinical courses, EMSP 1261 and 2266. There should be enough hours in the WECM range allowed. • Summer Enrollment • Card Classes (ACLS, PALS, PHTLS) – We had 6 graduates from Spring that had to sign up for these courses in the summer because they needed them for application processes. They are currently not required any more by the program because of the 60-credit hour ruling and students don’t take them. • AMLS was suggested by one committee member but, although faculty is very interested in it’s inclusion, it would still be subject to low enrollment since it, too, would be “recommended” and not required. o Action Plans – • Initiate online course availability (to eventually include EMT) • Wireless use of hi-fi mannequins. • Monitoring attrition for EMT classes. • Clincal • Additional internship/clinical sites. • Preceptor Training Module – Vance. Vance also made himself available for face-to-face presence at the clinical facilities. • Cadaver Lab and OR Lab. • OR Rotations.

o ACLS/PALS – • Do we need to be teaching these courses? Are they courses that you require your new applicants to have under their belt? Because of the increasing employer base for our graduates, there are now more that require these courses. o Last 2 semesters back in Summer – • In their removal, we in essence made the program longer for most students while other outside programs are shortening. • These courses were taken from Summer because of the time commitment in the classroom. If the lecture portion of these classes is online, it may increase the feasibility of reincorporating back into summer. • Let us know any suggestions you have about opportunities or options for clinical availability as this is the only limiting factor at this point. o EMS Public Outreach – • We want to participate in Public Outreach for EMS as a whole. We would like the committee to let us know of anything they are doing that we might be able to participate in. We also want to get involved with hosting an Explorer’s Group. ATCEMS hosts a group and will be glad to send us information. o Items up for Vote – • All in favor for Video Laryngoscopy being tested formally and moved into EMSP 2137 – Vote taken - Passes 9-0. • To implement online course offerings for EMSP 1338 and EMSP 1356 and eventually all semesters – Vote Taken - Passes 9-0 • OR Rotation with possible Spring implementation – Vote Taken - Passes 10-0 • Cadaver lab Rotation in pursuit of for implementation for as early as Spring – Vote Taken - Passes 10-0 • Fayette County Consideration as a clinical site – Vote Taken - Passes 9-0

o Area Hiring Processes – • San Marcos hiring November 2019 • Dell – Looking to create a way for Paramedics to practice at their full potential. Once they can do that there will be more opportunities for hire. o Next Accreditation Site Visit – Scheduled for Fall 2020 and we are preparing. o Student Representative • Nicola (not in attendance) – Clinical involving live intubations, Want more ATCEMS participation for clinicals. Students would like spirit wear. A microwave for student use. • Andrew – Much of comments he was to address were already addressed during the meeting. No new additions o Open to the Floor o Comments from the Medical Director, Dr. Duke Kimbrough? • Thanks the representatives around the room including Pat Recek. Students love the Trauma rotations. They are exposed to advanced airway, all of the different techniques, etc. Is anybody using bariatric mannequins for training? Is anybody doing any type of training in advance of equipping their employees to deal with stressful or traumatic events. San Marcos, Williamson County and ATCEMS are all implementing both proactive and reactive training and resources concerning this need. o Comments from the Dean, Pat Recek? • No Comments. o Next meeting (set date/time?) – • Don will send out an email to organize next year’s meeting. Terri makes a motion to adjourn the meeting, motion is seconded. Meeting is adjourned