MetLife teams with IMEP for emergency medical training

Apr 26, 2010

MetLife is partnering with the Institute of Medical Emergency Preparedness (IMEP) to make it easier for dentists and their staff to prepare for potential emergencies that could occur in their offices, through online continuing education (CE) programs and monthly emergency drills developed by IMEP.

Through the agreement, MetLife becomes the only dental carrier able to offer its dental preferred provider organization (DPPO) and dental HMO (DHMO) providers a discounted membership in IMEP.

"The work that IMEP does to prepare dental offices for medical emergencies is invaluable, and MetLife encourages all of our DPPO and DHMO network providers to take advantage of these services with over 40% discounted membership," said David Guarrera, vice president of MetLife Dental Product, in a press release.

The IMEP membership is a complement to MetLife's Quality Initiatives Program, he added.

"Working with MetLife is a key step to continuing IMEP's mission to making medical emergency preparedness a core competency in dental offices," said John Roberson, D.D.S., IMEP co-founder.

According to IMEP, the first 10 minutes following a medical emergency are critical to the individual's chances for survival. The IMEP membership is designed to enhance a dental office's preparedness to manage the medical emergency in those crucial moments.

The IMEP CE topics focus on:

Medical emergencies
Airway emergencies and equipment
Anesthesia emergencies
Emergency medications
Basic life support
Advanced cardiovascular life support
Pediatric advanced life support
Emergency response team development
Emergency action planning and documentation

With an IMEP membership, dentists can build a training team with up to 20 members who can participate in 12 monthly mock emergency drills, have 24-hour online access to more than 30 medical emergency specialty tests, and can earn up to 53 CE credits per year, according to the company.