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Together

Posted on May 18, 2022May 18, 2022 by medicscribe

In EMS, we are eyewitnesses to the inevitable decline of the human body and to death. That’s why when a young person dies it shakes us deeply. They are not supposed to die. It is hard to disassociate yourself from such an event. On those rare occasions that my Pandora’s box of bad EMS memories…

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Paramedic! Paramedic!

Posted on April 16, 2022April 16, 2022 by medicscribe

When I first started in EMS I was almost always the first on scene because our local fire department only responded to jaws of life calls and the PD usually only responded to reports of violence assaults. I loved getting their first.  The scene was pristine.  Sure I had a dispatch subject, but from early on…

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Lasting Gift

Posted on March 3, 2022March 3, 2022 by medicscribe

Someone you care about is graduating from paramedic school.  What is the best gift you buy them? Only two choices in this exercise.  1. A high quality stethoscope with their name etched on it.  2.  A good pair of boots. When I graduated from paramedic school, I bought myself a Littmann cardiology 2.  It was…

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Christmas

Posted on December 25, 2021December 25, 2021 by medicscribe

These are two old Christmas posts I wrote years ago, reposted now. ***Fifteen on the Scale It’s Christmas eve. We get called to one of the local nursing homes for rib pain. The room number sounds familiar. As we wheel our stretcher through the lobby, “Good King Wencelous” plays through the speakers. Gently shone the…

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Safe Injection Sites

Posted on December 4, 2021January 6, 2022 by medicscribe

I was walking in Pope Park, my EMS radio on my belt, and the ambulance idling not a minute away, I stopped by the pond where there is a open air building with a concrete floor where users often sit against the walls and shoot up, out of site of traffic.  I go down there…

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One Medic, Two Medic, Few Medic

Posted on December 1, 2021December 1, 2021 by medicscribe

A recent article in JEMS argued for an EMS system model, heavy on BLS with just a few experienced medics, similar to the model used in Boston.  The article revolved around an anecdote where two experienced BLS providers helped save a man with a ruptured appendix, by transporting him rapidly to the hospital.  The article…

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High Dose Naloxone

Posted on October 31, 2021October 31, 2021 by medicscribe

This week I was asked by the Connecticut Alcohol Drug Policy Treatment SubCommittee to comment on the new FDA approved high dose 8 mg naloxone product, Kloxxado, from the EMS perspective,   Here’s what I told them: Three Points High dose naloxone has no place in EMS/First Responder arsenal. 2. It has not been proven…

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Paramedics Indicted

Posted on September 5, 2021September 8, 2021 by medicscribe

No one ever said being a medic was easy. Do the best you can.  Know your protocols.  Use sedation with caution.  Act on your patient’s behalf.

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Blog Under Construction

Posted on August 11, 2021August 19, 2021 by medicscribe

I am pleased to announce the relaunch of my blog on a new server. I began this blog almost 20 years ago on the blogger network. Quite a number of years ago, I was recruited to move my blog over to an EMS network, which I did in hopes it would increase my viewership. They…

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Pediatric Cardiac Arrest

Posted on December 30, 2020August 15, 2021 by medicscribe

I just watched a fantastic and very thoughtful lecture of pediatric cardiac arrest given by Dr. Peter Antevy as part of the Refresh2021 free national registry program, which I encourage everyone in EMS to sign up for. Register for Refresh 2021 When I precepted as a paramedic in 1995, my preceptor told me when we had a…

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Connecticut EMS Overdose Data

Posted on September 21, 2020August 21, 2021 by medicscribe

In Connecticut, when EMS responds to an opioid overdose, after they have taken the patient to the hospital, accepted a refusal, or presumed a patient dead, they are required to contact the state poison control center and answer a series of questions about the overdose. The program, known as SWORD (Statewide Opioid Reporting Directive), that…

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Ventilation and Prolonged Exposure

Posted on August 27, 2020August 21, 2021 by medicscribe

We are told to keep six feet of distance from each other, but how effective is this the distance in preventing the spread of COVID-19? The answer may well be, yes, it helps, but it is not the full answer. In a new article published in the British medical Journal provides a fuller view of…

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Part-Time

Posted on August 11, 2020August 21, 2021 by medicscribe

For over twenty-five years I was a full time street medic.  I have been part-time now for only a few months.  I have tried to work at least 20 hours a week, but there have been a couple of weeks when I have only worked once, and one week where I did not work at…

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Bizarre Foods Hartford

Posted on July 15, 2020August 21, 2021 by medicscribe

From 2012-2014, I kept up a blog called A Paramedic’s Guide to Take out in Hartford.  I haven’t updated it since then, but am considering doing so.  In the meantime, I came across this old entry called Bizarre Foods Hartford, and since all five restaurants are still operating (open for carryout), I thought I’d post…

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A Boy

Posted on June 25, 2020August 21, 2021 by medicscribe

In 1999, I wrote a letter to the editor of the Hartford Courant about a police shooting in the city.   The newspaper reported that an unarmed 14-year old black boy had been shot in the back by a white police officer.  They put the story on the front page under the headline Family, Police Want Answers: No Weapon…

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Harm Reduction

Posted on June 17, 2020August 21, 2021 by medicscribe

Connecticut’s harm reduction workers are out on the street everyday trying to make the world safer for those caught in substance use.  This is particularly important in this time of COVID-19.  I am often questioned whether or not harm reduction – syringe services, community naloxone, overdose prevention sites, drop-in centers– are not just enabling users….

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I Can’t Breathe

Posted on June 1, 2020August 21, 2021 by medicscribe

 I have heard many people say “I can’t breathe.” Sometimes the people are full of it, other times they are dying. I have also heard the response line, “You’re talking fine.”  I’ve heard EMS say it and I’ve heard police say it. On May 25, 2020 , George Floyd said to officer Derek Chauvin, I…

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A Visit

Posted on May 30, 2020August 21, 2021 by medicscribe

He is an old man with a stooped back, wearing tan work pants and shirt with his name on the right breast and his company’s name on the left.  He has gotten out of his old Pontiac, and wearing a face mask, walks toward us as we come out of the dialysis center with an…

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Surgical Masks and Aerosolization

Posted on May 13, 2020August 21, 2021 by medicscribe

COVID-19 is spread primarily in respiratory droplets. Here’s why you need to put a surgical mask on your patients and why we should all be wearing masks ourselves when we are in public. These illustrations come from a study by Vapotherm. COVID-19 Transmission Assessment Report

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Shower

Posted on May 9, 2020August 21, 2021 by medicscribe

 The fire department had three of their men in full gowns when we arrived.  The patient was up on the fourth floor, unable to walk, they said.  They weren’t certain what was wrong with him — he wasn’t answering questions–but he had been shaking and vomiting all morning, and he had just gotten out of…

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