San Juan County adopts written EMS operating guidelines to formalize procedures

The San Juan County Commission unanimously approved written Standard Operating Guidelines for the county Emergency Medical Services at its Feb. 4 meeting.

The guidelines, presented by an EMS representative identified in the record as Jeremy, formalize job descriptions, orientation, training requirements, health and safety rules, narcotics storage and counting procedures, incident response roles and other department-specific policies that the presenter said do not supersede the county-wide policies but provide standards particular to EMS operations.

Jeremy told the commission that the department previously had “nothing right now that’s written and been approved by the commissioners,” and said the guidelines are intended to “protect the patient, the provider, and the county” by making expectations clear and enforceable. Commissioner Mon moved to accept the guidelines; Commissioner Harvey seconded and the motion passed with all commissioners saying “aye.”

Commissioners praised the effort to put procedures in writing to help new personnel and to create a clearer basis for training and enforcement. The presenter said the document can be updated over time as needed.

Implementation details such as who will maintain and update the guidelines and the schedule for future reviews were discussed briefly but not specified for a follow-up action in the meeting record.

The approval formalizes operational standards for the EMS department and gives staff a written reference for training, narcotics accounting with the medical director, minimum shift/attendance requirements and incident-response roles.