And The Answer Is…
Brugada Syndrome. It’s genetic disorder that effects sodium ion channel functionality, primarily in the myocardium. It’s prevalence is not known since it was only identified in 1992. It certainly might...
View ArticleThe New Guidelines Are Here! The New Guidelines Are Here!
Channeling my inner Steve Martin I’m excited to report that the new American Heart Association (AHA) guidelines for CPR and Emergency Cardiovascular Care have been released. You can download the entire...
View ArticleOxygen and COPD – A New Study
A study published in the British Medical Journal on line first edition dated October 18, 2010 shows the results of a study done in Australia involving the Tasmanian Ambulance Service (Hobart) and Royal...
View ArticleAnother Shoe Drops
AG: Employees involved in fraudulent EMT recertification scheme indicted Boston, Mass. — A Suffolk County Grand Jury has returned indictments against an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) instructor,...
View Article&*%#(@+ American Heart Association
Great news that on line BCLS, ACLS, and PALS instructor updates are available on line for me to take so that I don’t have to travel halfway across the country to take them. If only they actually worked...
View ArticleUpdate On The AHA Update
I called the AHA help line one minute past 0900 (Eastern time) and was met with a 45 minute hold time. Turns out I’m not the only person who had a problem with the BLS course. The very nice customer...
View ArticleThoughts From EMS Today
I’ve been going to EMS Today, off and on, since 1995. The format of the conference, which is more of a trade show, hasn’t really changed. There are educational sessions, social events, and a large...
View ArticleTraining That Didn’t Suck
Confined space rescue training, physically very demanding. I spent the whole week totally outside of my comfort zone. I’ve done a number of “austere” medicine training programs over the years, but...
View ArticleThis Time, We Really, Really, Really, Really, Know The Answer
Prolonging CPR Doesn’t Help September 2, 2011– Increasing the time spent administering CPR to cardiac arrest patients won’t increase their chances of survival, researchers said Wednesday, putting to...
View ArticleAnother Fire Department With EMS Problems
Report: Tensions rile Fire Dept. PHILADELPHIA — A scathing report released yesterday rebuked the Philadelphia Fire Department’s culture, which it said caused paramedics to quickly hit a career ceiling...
View ArticleIn Which I Delve Into Politics
EMS politics, that is. If you’ve read my blog for a while, you know that I’m not a member of the National Association of EMTs and you probably know why. I’ll recap, though. I don’t think that they do...
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Mystery ECG
A student brought this to me from one of her field shifts with a local ambulance service. Can anyone identify the type of artifact? Hint #1. It’s not 60 cycle artifact. Hint #2. It’s not the patient...
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ECG Question for the Day
Based only on the rhythm in this 12 Lead, would you cardiovert this patient? As they say in the NREMT tests, don’t read too much into the question. Here is the long awaited update. Sorry for the delay,...
View ArticleEverything you Know about EMS is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG
That’s maybe a slight exaggeration. Not everything we know in EMS is wrong, just a lot of it. I was having a very pleasant email exchange with some friends from around the country. All of us are, or...
View ArticleAnother Medical Myth
A couple of days ago, I was reviewing a PCR from one of my client services. The rough details are that the patient was an older man with a significant medical history. His chief complaint was pain...
View ArticleBad Luck
One of my favorite quotes is from Robert Heinlein’s “Lazarus Long” character, Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and...
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Recognition Of Atrial Fibrillation
While reviewing patient care reports over the past few months, I’ve noticed an odd (to me) trend. It seems that some paramedics are having a hard time recognizing Atrial Fibrillation. Mostly, this...
View ArticleThis Pretty Much Sums It Up
This is NOT my video. I found it randomly while looking for something else on Facebook. What I was looking for is not important, but this video is and is funny as well. It sums up my thoughts on so...
View ArticleDumb Questions
Way, way, back when I was in EMT school, there was always that one guy. The one guy who asked questions that were dumb, but actually needed some sort of answer. For some reason, the question always...
View ArticleNational Scope of EMS Practice
Let me say at the outset, that there should be no such thing. Why you ask? Because there is no one size fits all solution for EMS. There are something like 50 different models of EMS delivery in North...
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