Date of Award
Spring 5-9-2020
Document Type
Honors Thesis
Department/Major
Health Science
First Advisor
Jonelle Hook
Second Advisor
Jamie Turgeon-Drake
Third Advisor
Shane Nordyke
Keywords
Emergency Medical System, Rural, EMS, Healthcare
Abstract
Emergency Medical Services is a key component of South Dakota’s rural healthcare network. However, research suggests that rural EMS agencies are ill-equipped to provide high quality emergency medical care. Delays or difficulty in delivery of care is exacerbated by sparsely spread resources. Evaluations of rural EMS agencies show that lack of volunteers and insufficient funding due to current reimbursement models are threatening the continued operation of rural EMS agencies. A survey conducted in 2016 by South Dakota Department of Health’s EMS Program and SafeTech Solutions, LLP, a national EMS consulting firm revealed that South Dakota’s EMS agencies are struggling to maintain a staffed agency. The results of this study confirm the discrepancies between the delivery of care in urban vs rural settings and bring into question the reliability of rural EMS agencies. Some rural states have piloted innovative programs to address the issue and integrate their rural EMS system into a larger healthcare network. But these are small measures, limited in scope to the grand scale of the rural crisis. It is hoped that more research brings policy change to the volunteer EMS model in order to address the issue that rural EMS agencies are facing.
Recommended Citation
Corrin, Jenna A., "Dead Zones: An Analysis of South Dakota’s Rural EMS System" (2020). Honors Thesis. 98.
https://red.library.usd.edu/honors-thesis/98