PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Drexel University’s college of medicine and the Philadelphia Fire Department joined forces today, during “EMS Week,” to create the first ever “Annual Day of EMS.”

Drexel medical residents spent the day at the Philadelphia Fire Academy learning about what EMS units do before patients are transported to the hospital.

Drexel College of Medicine residency director Edward Ramoska says there was no more appropriate time for this collaborative conference than during EMS Week.

“The interaction between EMS and the hospitals is a critical point in taking care of patients, and so this is just to let the residents who are going to be future ER doctors used to how EMS operates,” he told KYW Newsradio.  “We see the patients when they come in from a motor vehicle crash, but we don’t often see what the cars look like, or how long it takes to extricate people.”

What is the benefit of knowing beforehand how emergency responders work?

“It gives us an idea of what the injuries that patients potentially have, so we can take that into consideration when we’re evaluating someone,” he said.

Reported by Hadas Kuznits, KYW Newsradio 1060