Operational changes to the notification process of presumed or known positive COVID-19 patient interactions by EMS.

Maine EMS has released the following Operational Bulletin

Operational Bulletin - Operational Changes to the Notification Process of EMS Clinicians Contacting Presumed Presumed or Known Positive COVID-19 Patients (PDF) (12/10/2020)

Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention in collaboration with Maine EMS is making operational changes to the process by which EMS clinicians and their respective EMS agency leadership are notified of presumed or known positive COVID-19 patient interactions.

The recent increases in volume of positive COVID-19 testing results has resulted in a delay in the notification process to our EMS clinicians.  As such, Maine EMS has worked diligently to create a more streamlined automated process that will notify EMS clinicians of their possible exposure daily. The new notification will include the incident date, the incident number, and the personal protective equipment (PPE) that was documented as being used on the incident (see Appendix A for a sample notification email). These notifications will be arriving to your email address on file in MEFIRS, from ReportingServices-Uno@Maine.gov, please be sure to add this email address to your safe senders list and have your information technology departments whitelist this email address so that it does not get sent to your spam or junk folders (see Appendix B for a instructions from several email systems). EMS agency service directors and infection control contacts for each service that the individual clinician is affiliated with will also be receiving a notification of the interaction despite whether the call was run with their agency (see Appendix C for a sample notification email for agency leadership).

As we transition to this revised notification process, Maine EMS would like to reinforce the importance of accuracy when identifying your patients and appropriately recording their demographic information in MEFIRS.  When documenting patient demographics, EMS clinicians must use the patient’s legal name, date of birth, and home address.  This is necessary so we can accurately match our records to the records of Maine CDC (see Appendix D for documentation tips).

These notifications will be coming to your email address you have on file in the MEFIRS system. Please take the time to review this and be sure it is up to date.  You may do so by logging into MEFIRS and clicking on your name in the upper right-hand corner of the screen, then selecting account (see Appendix E for step-by-step guidance).

WHAT TO DO IF YOU GET A NOTIFICATION:

EMS Clinicians: Contact your agency leadership where the exposure occurred.  If further assistance is needed or you have additional questions, please call the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention at (800) 821-5821.

EMS Agency leadership: Work with your Infection Control Officer. Maine EMS has released an updated Playbook for Services who have a first responder testing positive for COVID-19, guidelines for quarantine, and return-to-work after quarantine. If further assistance is needed or you have additional questions, please call Maine EMS at (207) 626-3860 or you can call the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention at (800) 821-5821 (Note: this number is generally intended for individuals and will only be able to provide general information).

COVID-19 Positive First Responder Playbook Version 2.0 (PDF) (Updated November 5, 2020)

As always, thank you for everything you do, please stay safe and do not hesitate to reach out to Maine EMS with any questions or concerns.  You can reach Maine EMS by calling (207) 626-3860 or emailing maine.ems@maine.gov.  Please stay tuned to our website as well for the latest updates on our COVID-19 Resources Page.