Emergency Medical Services
One of the largest academic EMS programs in the country
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) is an integral part of the Stanford Department of Emergency Medicine and the broader community.
Program highlights include:
- ACGME EMS fellowship
- Training for residents, medical students, undergraduates, and first responders
- Serving as medical directors for nine fire districts and two counties
- Partnering closely with LifeFlight, the only academic hospital-based flight program in California
- Working closely with local, state, and federal agencies to craft a web of support
- Participation on national and international disaster and humanitarian missions
- Training for Stanford Emergency Medical Service (StEMS) student group
- Advancing the field of Wilderness medicine through research and training
- Providing medical support for large-scale sporting and entertainment events
- Building and strengthening EMS systems internationally
Stanford EMS Fellowship (ACGME)
The Stanford EMS Fellowship is a comprehensive two-year program designed to develop leaders in emergency medical services.
Regional and National Leadership
As one of the largest academic-based EMS programs in the country, we provide training, pre-hospital care, research, and leadership throughout the peninsula.
Stanford also provides medical direction and education to fire departments in San Jose, Santa Clara City, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Saratoga, Cupertino, Campbell, Milpitas, Palo Alto, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Moffitt, Morgan Hill, Gilroy, and NASA Ames Fire and Emergency Services. We also provide real-time consultation with EMS in the field throughout San Mateo County.
Dr. Marc Gautreau is Chair of the California Commission on EMS, the gubernatorially appointed body providing oversight over the state EMS Agency.
Stanford EMS faculty founded the California state chapter of the National Association of EMS Physicians, and Dr. Peter D’Souza serves as president.
Dr. Bill Mulkerin is the County EMS Agency Medical Director for San Luis Obispo County.
Our ACGME-accredited fellowship involves prehospital emergency patient care, including initial patient stabilization, treatment, and transport to hospitals in specially equipped ambulances or helicopters.
Stanford also provides mandatory and optional EMS rotations for residents, as well as undergraduate education and EMT training.
Stanford EMS division operates an EMT training program as part of the undergraduate curriculum of Stanford University. The popular course enrolls 80+ students per year.
EMS faculty collaborate with Anesthesia and Otolaryngology in teaching the annual Stanford Airway Symposium, a two-day intensive program that attracts students from all over the world.
Benefitting from our location in Silicon Valley, considered ground-zero for innovation, our faculty and fellows conduct research on a wide range of pre-hospital care topics.
Recent work explores the challenges of the national ET3 project and the outcomes of trauma patients transported by private vehicle vs ambulance.
We are also leveraging large language models to classify pediatric seizure outcomes and assess diagnostic and treatment variations across demographic groups to improve outcomes for status epilepticus.
Faculty are also researching health disparities in EMS care and examining the interactions between paramedics and physicians during real-time medical consultations from the field.
Our collaboration with organizations and local EMS agencies throughout the surrounding communities is critical to creating a network of pre-hospital support. We also partner with local fire departments, first responders, student EMTs, and LifeFlight.
Our community extends throughout the region and around the globe through legislative and international efforts.
Our faculty also serve with FEMA and Urban Search & Rescue crews to provide support during disasters.
Building the EMT Pipeline
California, like many states, is experiencing a shortage of trained EMT providers. Stanford Department of Emergency Medicine is actively working to address the shortage by defining best practices in EMT training. Faculty are conducting site visits to training programs around the country, and working with medical educators to further develop EMT training opportunities at Stanford. Learn more.
Latest EMS News
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Critical Care Above the Clouds
Alfredo Urdaneta, MD, guides the medical care for Stanford Life Flight transport, where in-flight, in-air conditions present unique challenges.
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The Right Stroke Care at the Right Location
Prasanthi Govindarajan, MD is using a multi-year Research Project grant from the Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to study the effect of state- and county-level stroke center bypass policies on patient outcomes.
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Growing and Diversifying the EMS Workforce
Stanford University's Department of Emergency Medicine is working to remedy this workforce loss and lack of diversity by building a Stanford-based EMS training program that targets underserved populations and expands gender and a socio-economic diversity in EMS providers.
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EMS in the Community: Training Local Partners
The Stanford Department of Emergency Medicine’s Emergency Medical (EMS) section is closely integrated with surrounding communities stretching from San Francisco to Gilroy. Partnerships span all aspects of pre-hospital care and training for fire departments, law enforcement agencies, and even the National Park Service.
Faculty
Multiple EMS division faculty are Board-certified in EMS, and several have been trained in additional areas of specialty, such as tactical EMS.
