Working at the hospital and on the ambulance, it has been heavy duty Ebola lately. Memos, flyers, posters, policies, and lots of questions. I have written power points, given talks and had many conversations on Ebola. Every day I read the CDC site for updates, which are numerous. I have even, along with two of…
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…
We find our patient by the elevator doors in a public building. He is on all fours, dry heaving, and shaking. He says he is in terrible pain. Security tells us he is a visitor to this public building. They don’t know anything about him other than that he has been screaming that he is…
This is the first I have written since May. I did not mean to stop writing. I had many thoughts, but just never got around to putting them down. Why no posts? A variety of reasons, primarily time. As I get older I find myself less sure of myself and my ideas. I can spout…
Many of us in EMS love gadgets I remember when I started another EMT sold me a “whup kit,” which was a holster that attached to my belt to hold my tools. I didn’t get a big one, just a modest sized one. It held a pen light, trauma shears, bandage scissors, tweezers, and a…
Yesterday the Connecticut Emergency Medical Services Medical Advisory Committee reversed its position from a year ago and voted to approve Intranasal Narcan as a sponsor hospital option for first responders and BLS services in the state. This does not mean that all first responders and BLS responders will be giving Narcan. It only means that…
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…
You should never have been precepting. You did not have enough street experience, not to mention you were not even old enough to buy a drink when you started. But these days like too many of your peers, you go from EMT school to paramedic school without putting in the time on the road. Sure…
Darkness. Cold. Reflection of fire in the water. Hoses on the ground. Onlookers. The stretcher, pulled by my partner and a firefighter, races through the scene to the the unknown victim carried out of the building. Behind them my feet are up in the air. I am three feet above the ground, suspended parallel, my…
I recently was sent this video documenting what is soon to be an extinct practice — at least in our state.
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.
We can all agree that these are goals of a perfect EMS system. 1. A paramedic on every priority one emergency call2. A run form completed before leaving the hospital3. A living wage for every paramedic Ever since I have been in EMS — 24 years now — I have heard the discussions about ambulance…
On TV, the paramedics are met at the ambulance bay by at least two doctors who ride the rails as the medic gives the story. The patient is moved over to the hospital bed where a team of ED staffers are ready to go to town in a seamless continuum of care. Sometimes this mirrors…
Sickle cell anemia is a horrible, painful disease. Over the years I have gone from viewing sickle cell anemia patients as drug-seekers (here I blame the EMS culture at the time) who I did nothing more than put on the stretcher and take to the hospital to human beings suffering from a painful disease who…
We were dropping off a regular patient at one of the hospitals the other day. A chronic PCP user. The “crusty” old nurse in the psych ward threw a fit complaining that she had just dealt with him two nights before. The fit was not good-natured banter, but clearly a I’m being imposed upon and…
“I don’t think you understand,” my preceptee said. “Zero is no pain, 10 is like an alligator biting your leg off pain.”
A handsome boy plays guitar in his garage band, thick black hair down to his shoulders. Man is he in to the music. The drummer in the background is also smiling, the kid on the bass is into it too. The photo colors are faded. I’m thinking 1970. In front of the 3X5 photo in…
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…