Ohio EMS office pulls funding from conference over controversial CISM topic

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Department of Public Safety, Emergency Medical Services Division recently withdrew funding for the Ohio Association of Emergency Medical Services (OAEMS) 38th Annual Summer Conference in Worthington, Ohio after it was learned that the keynote speaker would speak on a controversial EMS topic. 

Initially, the state agency had contracted with noted EMS author and physician Bryan E. Bledsoe, DO, FACEP, to provide $1,000 to cover travel and other expenses as a keynote speaker for the conference. However, the contract was cancelled when it was learned that one of the scheduled talks addressed a controversial EMS practice called Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM). 

CISM is a practice that is used by public safety personnel to help alleviate stress associated with their work. The practice has come under increasing scrutiny over the last few years in medical and psychological circles because scientific literature has shown it to be ineffective and possibly harmful for rescuers. 

Bledsoe has been a vocal critic of the process and was to provide an evidence-based presentation on the issue. However, after the topic became widely known, a member of the Ohio EMS Board of EMS and proponent of CISM, pressured Division staff to have the topic changed or to withdraw state funding for the conference. 

Division Director Larua Tiberi, who has since left the position, had staffers contact Bledsoe and directed him to change any presentations that might be critical of CISM. Following an extended discussion, Bledsoe elected to be released from the contract and personally paid the travel expenses from Texas to Columbus. 

The OAEMS provided a $1,000 honorarium for the 5 talks Bledsoe provided at the conference. Bledsoe said, "This was all quite bizarre. First, I was contacted by a member of the Division of EMS about being a keynote speaker and I sent my portfolio of talks. Division staffers selected 4 talks from the 13 available including the CISM talk and another that addresses EMS myths. Then, just weeks before the conference, I received an email stating that I had to remove the two controversial talks and replace them. This was after I had already forwarded the handouts and scheduled the trip." 

In a telephone call with Tiberi, Bledsoe later agreed to replace the CISM talk with one on patient restraint issues, but refused to change the EMS Myths presentation. 

At the conference, OAEMS members asked that the CISM talk be presented after hours and Bledsoe agreed to do so. Despite this, Ohio EMS Board member Kathryn Haley showed up at the conference to attend the session and criticize the presenter. The OAEMS had already provided a proponent of CISM the opportunity to present evidence for the practice. But, the EMS Division did not push OAEMS to drop this presentation after asking Bledsoe to drop his scheduled presentation.

Other Ohio EMS Board members attending the conference apologized to Bledsoe and conference organizers and stated that the issue of canceling funding and suppression of the scheduled presentation would be investigated.

Bledsoe was a guest speaker at the 2002 Kentucky EMS Conference and Expo in Owensboro last September. His topics included Pre-Hospital Pharmacology: A Common Sense Approach; The EMS Providers Guide to Southern Medical Terminology; and Pre-Hospital Management of Hypothermia in the 21st Century.

Bledsoe entered EMS in 1974 as an EMT. He attended one of the first paramedic programs in North Texas and worked for several years in Fort Worth as a paramedic before becoming an EMS instructor and coordinator. Now an emergency physician, Bledsoe is the author of numerous EMS textbooks published by Brady.

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