Emergency medical services (EMS) providers are placed in any number of situations on a daily basis, often with no two calls being alike. Providers must constantly maintain their composure as they try to restore some semblance of order in the midst of what is often very chaotic. Navigating congested traffic while driving lights and sirens to the scene, making critical decisions within seconds, and rendering patient care without haste are just a few of the things that keep stress levels high.

All of these things are important parts of providing efficient emergency care to the critically ill and injured. Probably one of the most important things an EMS provider does on a daily basis though is communication with others. Communication with dispatch allows providers to find the incident scene, communication with medical direction allows appropriate emergency care to be delivered, and communication with the nursing staff and physicians at the emergency department typically allows for a smooth transfer of patient care.

While good communication sounds pretty simple, experience has shown that there can be a breakdown in communication at any number of levels throughout the course of an incident, and unfortunately when this happens patient care may suffer. One factor that may lead to that breakdown in communication is poor interprofessional and interagency working relationships. Firefighters, law enforcement officers, emergency dispatchers, nurses, physicians, hospital clerical staff, and other EMS providers are just some examples of the types of people encountered by EMS providers on a daily basis. Striving to develop good working relationships with all of these groups of people can go a long way toward not only improving the EMS providers' ability to communicate and do their job, but also toward improving the overall quality and morale of the EMS workplace.

While the concept sounds simple, it is important for providers to realize that developing these working relationships does not happen overnight. It takes time and effort on the part of the EMS provider in order for these positive working relationships to become a reality. While it would be impossible to cover every scenario EMS providers might encounter when communicating and interacting with others, the purpose of this article is to provide suggestions for EMS providers on ways to improve both interprofessional and interagency working relationships with those persons and agencies that EMS providers most commonly interact with.