About the Performance Improvement Academy

We’re on a mission to create the next generation of EMS researchers.

The North Central EMS Institute has developed a one week EMS Expert Course. The course is intended for the EMS professional that is interested in improving organizational quality, but has no previous training or experience in quality improvement techniques.

We’ll take some ordinary EMTs and paramedics and turn them into extraordinary researchers.

This course is designed to introduce quality improvement and research tactics to ordinary EMS staff that have the desire to improve their organization. They will accomplish this mission by learning about the project orientation, process, core measures and targets of the Balanced Scorecard system. They will learn how to apply the principles of Six Sigma when the Scorecard expectations or specifications are not being met. Finally, they will learn the pinnacle of sophistication; applying research principles to both programs. Participants in this course will leave the week with an identified performance improvement project.

We’ve assembled a world class set of international instructors.

Our instructors have broad backgrounds in EMS and research. They come from Minnesota, Montana, Pennsylvania – and even Australia!

Day One

Day Two

• Balanced Scorecard for EMS
• Balanced Scorecard for EMS II
• Balanced Scorecard and Practice Sessions

Day Three

• “Just the facts, ma’am” and “Why did that project answer a question I didn’t ask?”
• “Data, data, we’ve got the data!”
• Avoiding unintended consequences: Asking a question that is both answerable and actionable

Day Four

• Research Skills for Evidence Based Practice
• Principles of Research

Day Five

• Bringing It All Together

Friday afternoon is optional for EMS-PIA participants. You are invited to join the Administrator Boot Camp and participate in discussion on:

• Big picture: What every EMS executive needs to know about EMS systems and the EMS industry today; how to become informed and stay informed
• Marketing: Tell your story: How to market your organization, mission, and plan up and down the ladder
• Technology: Letting the task drive the technology (not vice versa)