WEMSIS Resources

Emergency Medical Services Region Trauma Care Councils

North, North Central, Northwest, Central, East, South Central, Southwest and West

• Spreadsheet of EMS Key Performance Indicators/Clinical Measures (PDF)
• Summary of EMS Key Performance Indicators (PDF)

• EMS Key Performance Indicators Data Quality Rules (PDF)
• WEMSIS Data Rule Explanations (PDF)

New Guidance for Tracking COVID-19 by EMS Providers (PDF)

NEMSIS and EMS patient care report software companies have begun adding new COVID-19-related fields and values to their data systems, including new ICD-10 codes for identifying COVID-19 cases and potential cases.

Using any new fields or values that are not listed in the guidance may cause your reports to fail the state export process, or for the record to not be flagged in the state's COVID-19 response. If you are unsure of whether the codes or fields in your software align with those listed in this guidance, contact your software vendor or the WEMSIS program for assistance.

For more description of the changes, access the NEMSIS 3.5.0 data dictionary and change log.

Incident/Patient Disposition (eDisposition.12) will be removed and replaced with:

• Unit Disposition (eDisposition.27)
• Patient Evaluation/Care (eDisposition.28)
• Crew Incident Disposition (eDisposition.29)
• Transport Disposition (eDisposition.30)

Type of Service Requested (eResponse.05) – most of the values will be relabeled for clarity and many more values will be added to reflect emerging service types.

Level of Care of This Unit (eResponse.15) will be removed and replaced with:

• Level of Care Provided per Protocol (eDisposition.32)

Opioid/Substance Abuse

• The values “Pin Point” and “Dilated” will be added to Eye Assessment (eExam.18)
• “Patient” and “Lay Person” will be two different values instead of one under Role/Type of Person Administering Medication (eMedications.10)

Stroke

• Date/Time Last Known Well (eSituation.18) will become a national element allowing us to require it on all stroke calls and to document Not Applicable when necessary.
• Stroke Center classifications based on Joint Commission will be added to Hospital Capability (eDisposition.23):
  • Comprehensive Stroke Center (CSC) – Level 1
  • Primary Stroke Center (PSC) – Level 2
  • Acute Stroke Ready Hospital (ASRH) – Level 3
  • Thrombectomy-Capable Stroke Center (TSC)

Seizure

• “Status Seizure” will be added to Neurological Assessment (eExam.20)

Trauma

• eInjury.03 will be relabeled as “Trauma Triage Criteria (Steps 1 and 2) and eInjury.04 will be relabeled as “Trauma Triage Criteria (Steps 3 and 4)

Cardiac Arrest

Cardiac arrest data elements will better align with the Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (CARES) data dictionary.

• Cardiac Arrest (eArrest.01|CARES-20) will clarify that “Any EMS Arrival” includes both Transport EMS and any Medical First Responders dispatched through the 911 system
• Arrest Witnessed By (eArrest.04|CARES-19) – “lay person” will change to “bystander”

The following elements will be added:

• Therapeutic Hypothermia by EMS (eArrest.10|CARES-32) will return after having been removed
• Who First Initiated CPR (eArrest.20|CARES-23)
• Who First Applied the AED (eArrest.21|CARES-27)
• Who First Defibrillated the Patient (eArrest.22|CARES-28)

eArrest.20 will replace both eArrest.05 (CPR Care Provided Prior to EMS Arrival) and eArrest.06 (Who Provided CPR Prior to EMS Arrival)

eArrest.21 and eArrest.22 will replace eArrest.08 (Who Used AED Prior to EMS Arrival) – “Used AED” is split into “Applied the AED” and “Defibrillated the Patient” for clarity

eArrest.20-eArrest.22 – “lay person” will change to “bystander” and differentiates between EMS first responder and transport EMS

The Washington Emergency Medical Services Information System (WEMSIS) will transition from the NEMSIS version (V) 3.4 to the V3.5 standard by January 1, 2023. We require EMS services to transition to V3.5 by the same date.

We are aware not all EMS services will be able to submit V3.5 data to WEMSIS by the state implementation date for various reasons. Services who plan on transitioning after this date must submit a WEMSIS/NEMSIS V3.5 Implementation Deadline Waiver prior to January 1, 2023.

No action is necessary for EMS services who use WEMSIS for direct entry of electronic patient care reports.

https://fortress.wa.gov/doh/opiniodev/s?s=18374