On February 21, 2013 I wrote the post In Praise of CEMSMAC, to celebrate the courage of Connecticut’s top EMS doctors to back the draft document on spinal boards proposed by the National Association of EMS Physicians (NAEMSP), and to use that document as a guideline to developing statewide guidelines limiting the use of long…
Category: ems-topics
New World Heroin
There is a heroin on the streets in the North East now that is putting many abusers into respiratory arrest and killing those who do not get medical attention. The heroin is mixed with fentanyl. It seems every several years this mixture comes out with predictable results. Twenty years ago, it was called Tango and…
Spinal Immobilization Video
I recently was sent this video documenting what is soon to be an extinct practice — at least in our state.
12-Lead Computer Interpretation
12-Lead on First Contact
While studies have shown that between 15-20% of STEMIs don’t emerge until the 2nd or 3rd ECG, there are also cases where the STEMI disappears after the first ECG.
Pain Management Podcast
These Go to 11
“I don’t think you understand,” my preceptee said. “Zero is no pain, 10 is like an alligator biting your leg off pain.”
Where I Stand Today
I promised more columns on enhanced BLS, but I have instead been silent for the last two weeks as I have struggled to come to a clear understanding of the issue. The most successful commentators all stake out clear positions (whether they believe them or not). But I continue to struggle with this one. Just…
Gathering of the Eagles
If there was any place I could be this weekend, besides sitting here at home playing with my five-year old daughter (and working the ambulance tomorrow), it would be in Dallas for the annual “Gathering of the Eagles” conference.
Inventory (DOA)
First Night
Brothers and sisters, carry those lights in your heart, and spread their warmth into every house you enter, every patient you comfort, every life you touch.
Everyday EMS Athlete
There is a profile of me over at Greg Friese’s Everyday EMS Athletes, a feature of Everydayemstips.com.
EMS Changes
The number one treatment change in EMS in the last twenty years is the increased emphasis on painmanagement and comfort care. Albert Schweitzer said, “Pain is a more terrible lord of mankind than death himself…. We must all die. But that I can save him from days of torture, that is what I feel as…
Annual Cold Report
Drones
I am one of my own favorite comedians. Perhaps you have seen me on the Johnny Carson show? No, perhaps not then. Sometimes I really crack myself up. I am easily entertained. I don’t perform publicly, other than in small bit roles for my partner and patient while on the job. My latest gag has…
Astray
I read a recent article in the New York Times that disturbed me. A Crash. A Call for Help. Then, a Bill tells the story of a 70-year old man in Chicago who was in a minor motor vehicle accident, not his fault, who was nevertheless forced to pay the local fire department $200 for their response. The…
Change
They wrote everyone up for not doing the new ambulance maintenance checklist. A couple weeks ago, they started handing out the checklist. Lights, motor oil, mileage, cleanliness, tire pressure. Scratches, dents. You name it, it is on there. I did it the first couple days and then stopped doing it because they stopped passing it…
The Heart of Health Care
You have these moments in life. Sometimes you see something for the first time. Other times you are just reminded of basic truths. This was such a moment for me when you see the world very clearly.
Back In The City
I had not worked a city shift in nearly three years since I took my second job as an EMS coordinator. I forgot how much I loved it. I feel like I am back to my roots.
Splinting
Perhaps if I had done what as a new EMT so many years ago I had done, the patient would have been more comfortable. Now, I am not saying take away my morphine and Fentanyl and just give me a pile of splints and cravats, but I am saying I recognize a clear area for improvement.