Emergency medical services development in the state of Louisiana.

Management of Emergency Medical Services has been sadly forgotten over the years in the state of Louisiana. A new task force which was formed over a year ago is now beginning to formulate a direction for the future of EMS in this state. At its last Annual Meeting, the LSMS adopted a resolution to support the work and decisions made by that task force. The EMS task force pulled together firefighters, emergency medical technicians, ambulance employees, and a group of physicians representing the specialities of trauma, emergency medicine, and pediatrics. Subcommittees were formed to address legislation, licensure, education, medical control, and pediatric issues. Definitive direction for the Bureau of EMS has been formulated with the aid of the task force and its various subcommittees. The LSMS as a whole supports this initiative; however, for it to succeed, the entire membership must understand the importance of EMS to everyone in the state. Good out-of-hospital care will determine whether a person gets early thrombolytic care, whether early defibrillation is available at their sides, and whether their child is treated with "pediatric appropriate" approaches to medical care. The life saved could be important to any one of us. The purpose of this article is to acquaint the membership with what EMS is, what the condition of EMS in Louisiana is, and what the progress of the EMS task force has been.