Standard Operating Guidelines
Pertaining to Duty Shifts

Article II: Hours of Operation and Duty Shift Hours

The Quick Response Service (QRS) will provide emergency coverage for the campus year round, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The QRS will remain in service unless it is absolutely necessary to place the QRS out of service. It will be the QRS officers’ collective decision to place the QRS out of service. If the QRS does have to go out of service, Huntingdon County Dispatch is to be notified upon going out of service and when the QRS returns into service. This notification shall be placed via telephone. Any missed calls will not require completion of paperwork. The duty shift will run from 1800 on Saturday through 1800 on Wednesday and from 1800 Wednesday through 1800 Saturday; duty will be exchanged at 1800 hours in the QRS office. At this time, the OIC, EMT/CFR and attendant on duty will be in the office to officially pass of duty and equipment.

Article III: Response Area

The QRS coverage area will include the area designated as the Juniata College campus between Mifflin Street and East Houses and Knox Stadium and College Avenue. This area shall also include all other college-owned property in the immediate vicinity of Juniata College main campus. QRS will also provide service outside the above areas when requested by the Huntingdon County 911 system.

Article V: Certification Requirements for QRS Personnel

Each responding crew must have no less than one person who is certified as a First Responder by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The minimum certifications required for any person to participate with the QRS are Adult, Infant, and Child CPR (Healthcare Provider CPR) and airway management (either American Heart Association or American Red Cross will be accepted). Participation is defined as responding to campus emergencies or being present at stand-by functions where the QRS has been requested.

Article VIII: Dispatch

The QRS is dual dispatched with Ambulance Co. 500. Not all pages will be applicable to the Juniata College QRS. Calls for Juniata College campus will sound similar to the following:

Alert signal. (Pager or radio activates) More tones will be heard. After an alert tone a dispatch similar to the following will be heard “In the Borough of Huntingdon, on the campus of Juniata College, 307 East Halls for Seizures…Ambulance Company 500 with Medic, QRS 8, Charlie Assignment, 22:48.”

Article IX: Communications

Correct Radio Procedure:
Each EMT/CFR and Officer on duty will be issued a radio. Duty attendants or crew members shall be issued a pager. Others members of the QRS may have at their disposal a radio or pager at the discretion of the QRS captain. Dual dispatch will take place over Med 9 (462.950 MHz & Med. 9 on the radios). The OIC will be responsible for notifying Huntingdon Med of the response effort. In the event that the OIC does not respond within 30 seconds, any other available QRS officer may relay the QRS response effort. If there is no response effort after a second dispatch, the EMT/CFR on duty may communicate the response effort. If no response effort has been communicated after third dispatch, any member with a radio may communicate the response effort. The first QRS member on scene with a radio should communicate the arrival on scene to Huntingdon Med. The OIC shall notify Huntingdon Med of the availability of the QRS at the appropriate time.

The patient’s name is not to be said on the radio. No vulgar language or slang is to be used. When dispatched for an incident the radio user must say, “Huntingdon Med from QRS 8,” wait to be acknowledged by Huntingdon Med, then say “QRS 8 is responding.” The same is said when the QRS arrives on scene of the incident except when acknowledged “QRS 8 is on scene” is said. When the QRS is available and free from the incident, use the same format except “QRS 8 is available” is said. If any other radio use is necessary, acknowledge by saying, “go ahead,” then answer the caller with only the necessary information. When Huntingdon Med or the ambulance gives information or tells the QRS to do something, they are answered by, “QRS 8 copies.”

Radio Channels for Motorola P1225 Radios:
Refer to the owner’s manual for proper use of the radios.
- Channels 1 through 7 on the radios are Med channels 1 through 7 respectively.
- Channel 8 is Huntingdon Ambulance 500’s tactical channel.
- Channel 9 is Med 9 which is the main channel that Huntingdon County Medical Communications uses to dispatch and communicate with Medical units. This channel has a repeater enabled, so no voice but the dispatcher’s will be heard.
- Channel 10 is the same as Channel 9 except the repeater is not enabled and the user is able to communicate with other members of the QRS, dispatch, and the ambulance.
- Channels 11 – 13 are PEMARS 1, 7, and 9 respectively. PEMARS channel frequencies are the ones used the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency. These channels are only to be used in extreme emergencies in which Huntingdon County EMA involved.
- Channel 14 is the dedicated QRS Tactical Channel. This channel shall be for all formal and informal communication between QRS members possessing a radio.
- Channel 15 shall be used to communicate between Juniata College Police and the QRS. It may be used for, but not restricted to QRS members notifying Security of a situation that deems their response, Security requesting an EMT/CFR to a scene that they feel deems the response of an EMT/CFR.
- Channel 16 is used as the paging channel. While on this channel, the radio will be in page mode until the QRS or Huntingdon Ambulance is paged out for a call. At this point, the radio will activate and the dispatch will be heard.
- If it is a QRS call, the radio will need to be turned to Channel 9 to go responding or 10 to talk to the ambulance. In order to reset the Channel 16 page mode, simply turn the unit off then on or refer to the owner’s manual for the correct process.

Article X: Response Mode

When dispatched, responders will go to the scene of the incident by any means possible. Responding members are to expedite their travel to the scene of the emergency as safely and legally as possible. All members shall respond so at their own risk. The OIC, EMT/CFR, and attendant must respond in an emergency situation. All other members responding with radios shall place their radios on the QRS TAC channel in order to listen to directions from the OIC. Any QRS members who are available may respond to the emergency understanding that priority of patient is the responsibly of the current duty crew.

Article XIV: Equipment

During the official change of duty, the OIC will restock medical equipment if necessary. The trauma and oxygen bags will be restocked if needed directly after stand-bys or any other special events by the OIC. The Lieutenant is to perform a monthly inventory and weekly AED check. ESSC will purchase all equipment for use by QRS team members. Team members should keep equipment in the same condition as it was at the time of purchase. Damage to any piece of equipment must be reported to appropriate QRS officer as soon as possible. If any disposable equipment is noted to be low, the Lieutenant is to be contacted. Any supplies used during an emergency should be replaced by asking the ambulance to restock the used supplies. This re-supply should be done immediately after the emergency call circumstances are resolved. The weekly OIC and EMT shall ensure that all equipment is checked weekly. This shall include any equipment that is with the attendant and any equipment that is in the security vehicle. This shall also include weekly checking of the AED located in the security vehicle. The Lieutenant of the QRS shall oversee all medical related equipment purchases and recommend them to the officers for approval.

Article XV: Alcohol Consumption and Drug Use

A responder shall not consume any alcoholic beverage or drugs within twelve hours prior to any call or shift. Any breach of this procedure will subject the offender to disciplinary action by the officers of JBSMESSC. No responder may consume or be under the influence of alcohol or drugs, including legal drugs that may alter judgment, while on duty. Any member found to be in possession of any illegal substances (including alcohol for anyone under the age of 21) while on duty will be suspended until the case has gone through the proper college or state judiciary channels. The President, Chief and Advisor of JBSMESSC will render a decision based on the verdict supplied by the college/state.

“Under the influence of” will be defined as follows:
- Having consumed alcohol or illegal drugs in the last twelve hours.
- Showing any sign of impairment, intoxication, or reduced mental function as a result of the use of drugs or alcohol.
- Having consumed a prescription drug or over-the-counter medication which affects mental status within the last four hours

Article XVII: Physical & Emotional Health

Any person who responds to an emergency should be physically fit to the extent that he/she can lift and carry a patient in almost any type of situation (i.e. stairs, long distances, etc.).

Any person who responds to an emergency should be able to withstand emotionally trying situations. A debriefing team will be called in if necessary for calls of extreme incidence. All calls that deem the need of a Critical Incident Stress Debriefing shall be handled through the Chief of the QRS. Said CISD situations shall include members that responded and were on scene for said alarm.

Article XVIII: Transfer of Patient Care

Transfer of care may only be administered to an appropriate ambulance company that has been dispatched by Huntingdon County Dispatch to that specific alarm. Transfer of care shall not be completed until all information pertinent to the alarm is received by the EMT/CFR or OIC of that alarm.

Article XX: Patient Confidentiality and HIPAA

-HIPAA shall be defined at the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
-All personnel are to complete HIPAA training prior to responding to any alarms with QRS 8. All records of said completion shall be placed in the personnel files and the respective HIPAA files.
- PHI shall be defined as Protected Health Information
-All trip sheets are to be completed in less than 24 hours from the end of the call. Completion of trip sheets shall be defined as trip sheet completed in the appropriate computer program, trip sheet faxed to receiving hospital trip sheet recorded to region, and hard copy deposited in “Completed Tripsheet” box.
-If a trip sheet is not completed immediately following a call, care must be utilized in where the PHI is stored. If kept in a student room, the paperwork must be stored in a locked drawer or otherwise out of sight. Care must be taken not to have others look at this information.
-After the completion of a call, the EMT/CFR or OIC of the call must go to the hospital ER to receive a face sheet. This information is necessary to complete the trip sheet and have an accurate accounting of all information.
-If a patient is unable to sign an acknowledgement of the receipt of privacy practices, the EMT or officer must note this on the sign off sheet and also in the trip sheet. Then, the officer must contact the patient and within 5 (five) days time, provide the patient with a notice of privacy practices and have them sign that they did receive it. Under no circumstance will our notice of privacy practices be given to the ambulance personnel.
-Use the fax cover sheet when faxing information to any agency or organization from the ESSC/QRS. See more specific information in Article XXII.
-Use the email confidentiality statement when emailing PHI. For more information see Article XXII.
-In accordance with HIPAA no PHI will be provided to Police officials that are not directly involved in patient care.
-All patient information and HIPAA documents will be kept and maintained in a locked file drawer located in the QRS office. Access to these files will be limited to the Chief and the Privacy Officer.
- All correspondence in the form of faxes and emails from the ESSC/QRS8 account or office shall be prefaced with either a email or fax coversheet provided by the ESSC/QRS8.

Article XXI: Record-keeping

For communications and record-keeping purposes, a patient care report must be completed on each patient. The crew leader of the emergency scene is responsible for completing the patient care report. Also, the crew leader must contact Huntingdon County communications immediately after the emergency call via their non-emergency number (643-6820) to obtain the emergency call’s run times and County run number. The dispatcher will then report a dispatch time, responding time, on scene time, and available time. The dispatcher will also give a run number. All the times and the run number must then be entered into the computer program that is available to create a state-approved report form.

A copy of the form will be given or faxed to the receiving hospital of that patient. If Medical Command is contacted a trip-sheet shall be faxed to the Medical Command facility that was contacted for command. This fax shall be completed within twenty-four hours of the alarm.

If a patient refuses treatment and/or transport, a Patient Refusal of Services form must be completed (See Article XVIII). These forms will be found within a clipboard in the medical bags. A copy of this form must be given to the responding ambulance crew. If the EMT feels it is necessary to contact medical command he/she may do so. However, careful documentation must be completed. Refer to Article XVII, Transfer of Patient Care.

Article XXII: Juniata College Procedures

Under the established procedures of Juniata College, a security officer must be on scene during an emergency. Juniata College Police shall be contacted in the event of an on-campus emergency.

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