Seven months and counting! With all the hype surrounding the Y2K issue, is January 1, 2000 going to be a doomsday for those who provide emergency medical services? The general consensus is no, but then again who really knows until it happens. So the question in front of us - has your service done anything to prepare for the bewitching hour of midnight January 1, 2000? Law firms have already put together taskforces to prepare for litigation for those organizations which fail to address this issue. In essence, this has been a known problem for years, and if your service fails to address it, did your service fail to act? Commit a breach of duty? And did it directly lead to an adverse reaction to a patient? Some equipment which can be affected by the Y2K issue are pagers, portable radios, monitor/defibrillators, AEDs, IV infusion pumps, pulse oximeters, vehicle computers, computer-aid dispatching systems, telephone systems, telemetry consoles, training and vehicle maintenance software, traffic control lights, communication data recorders, ambulances, doorlocks and security controls, cellular phones, and computer networks.

What should you be doing? First, inventory all the possible equipment which you may have that is date sensitive. Your inventory master list should include what has been inventoried; does it need to be tested; location, model, serial number; vendor names, address and phone number. Next, you need to assess the equipment which is date sensitive. Can the manufacturer supply you with a certificate of Y2K compliance? Make sure you get all Y2K compliance statements in writing. Event then, you need to be careful. In my own department, a certificate of compliance from a monitor/defibrillator manufacturer initially looked like the St. Louis Fire Department was compliant on monitor/defibrillators. However, the fine print specified only those monitor/defibrillators with a serial number above a certain number. Our monitor/defibrillator serial numbers fell below that specified number. Therefore, they were not Y2K compliant and will need software modifications to bring them into compliance.

Next, create a determination plan for each device affected by software. Should you fix, scrap, or replace Y2K non-compliant software?

Also, you should test any device which is date sensitive. It is recommended that testing occur on a "slow Sunday morning," and include three tests; one that occurs in 1999 with supplemental information added in the year 2000; one that occurs in 1999 and rolls past midnight into the year 2000; and one that starts and finishes in the year 2000.

Lastly, make sure you have your documentation of testing or certification of Y2K compliance from manufacturers. No doubt, the lawyers are waiting in the wings for the clock to strike midnight.

So what's going on with Negotiated Rulemaking? First, round one is over. First responder reimbursement is not open for discussion - at this point. Other possibilities exist. Much of the first session helped lay the groundwork for future sessions. There was unanimous agreement among the committee that there will be no difference in the reimbursement fees, whether the service is fire, private, third service, hospital-based, etc. A lot of time was spent discussing the Project Hope survey. The final conclusion - only those at the table will have access to the costing data. Additionally, the only data that anybody at the table can access would be the data for their specific sector of the industry.

It appears the votes are in and according to internet talk groups, the new television show "Rescue 77" gets a thumbs down for all the Hollywood hype. What has turned off fire and EMS professionals is the handstand defibrillations, alleviating the intracranial pressure on a patient by drilling through the skull with an ordinary carpenter's drill, partying with nurses on duty, telling a patient they are going to die, physically threatening an abusive boyfriend, and others.

Look for another show to debut called "St. Michael's Crossing." This will be a new fire- rescue action program which deals with a fictitious station that houses firefighters, EMTs, and police, who respond together as a special taskforce.

Also watch for a new EMS movie coming out soon called "Bringing out the Dead," starring John Goodman and Nicholas Cage.