Happy EMS Week: Save a Life Thursday

EMS Week: Save a life day!

Today is save a life day, something YOU do every...single...day of your profession.  Some days your life is like a grand slow motion action-Bayhem-movie scene, with mangled cars, severely injured patients, and you, the prehospital provider are the one of the heroes of the scene with dramatic slow motion camera angles focused on you.  (If you're unsure of what Bayhem is, check out the vid below and you'll get it REAL quick)

But alas, not all days are as action filled.  Some days, its the little things that make the biggest difference...like tourniquets!  Well, our very good friend, Dr. Scott Goldberg (@EMS_Boston) is quite passionate about this device and wanted to speak to highlight one of the Prehospital Emergency Care Journal's manuscripts concerning tourniquets. 

Our tourniquet expert, Dr. Scotty G of that small institution in Boston called Harvard :P.

Dr. Goldberg sat down with the lead author, Dr. Scerbo, to discuss her manuscript: Safety and Appropriateness of Tourniquets in 105 Civilians. 

THE Dr. Michelle Scerbo.

It's a true reminder that this simple maneuver with this little doohickeys can be a safe way to save a life.  So check out this discussion here for EMS Week day 4: Save a Life day.  Happy #EMSWeek to all our EMS providers, be safe, stay #EMSstrong, and continue doing what you do best: Saving lives.  Thank you for all you do.

Happy EMS Week: Pediatric Wednesday

Happy EMS Week Peds Day

Yesterday we delved into our history to stress safety in a different form.  Today, we look to the future and say AWWWW how cute!!!  That's right we're talking about pediatric EMS today!

Our very own triple boarded in Pediatrics, Pediatric Emergency Medicine, and EMS Dr. Joelle Donofrio (who is waaaay smarter than the average bear) went around the nation to interview fellow triple boarded Peds EMS physicians to thank YOU, our EMS providers for taking care of our kids.

Yes we know she's a nerd, a nerd about little ones.  But man is she passionate and so very smart about all things pediatrics!  If you ever want advice on pediatric prehospital care...go to her.  She knows her stuff!!!  But wait there's more...

These stellar Pediatricians want to tell you what they are most looking forward to in the world of pediatric EMS so we can better serve our smaller communities.  So listen to this podcast and be melted by the cuteness, the passion, and the future of pediatric EMS care! 

Special thanks to Dr. Bjorn Peterson (@bjorn_peterson) for helping create our pediatric intro and conclusion!

So to all our EMS providers during this EMS week, remain #EMSstrong, thank you for caring for our communities, and thank you for caring for our littlest patients. 

Cheers!

Happy EMS Week : Safety Tuesday

Happy EMS Week SAFETY TUESDAY!

Today is SAFETY TUESDAY! I know, I know...it’s drilled into your heads.  Scene safety, scene safety, and scene safety.  Can you hear Men Without Hats?!?!?

And you know what, you’re absolutely right.  The scene SHOULD be safe.But today we’re not talking about THAT kind of safety.  We’re talking about your safety when it comes to fatigue.  Fatigue, which is the overwhelming feeling of exhaustion and tiredness, is a rampant problem in our field.  It is a pernicious symptom that leaks into every aspect of our lives affecting not only patient safety, but yours in EMS as well.

Fatigue, which is the overwhelming feeling of exhaustion and tiredness, is a rampant problem in our field.  It is a pernicious symptom that leaks into every aspect of our lives affecting not only patient safety, but yours in EMS as well.

So we decided to delve into our archives (well not that deep) and play for you one of our favorite interviews with a sleep scientist and colleague of paramedics, Dr. Daniel Patterson and his evidence based guideline manuscript on fatigue.  To be honest, it is very intimidating to interview Dr. Patterson because he is a paramedic AND a PhD. Fortunately, Dr. Patterson’s gentlemanly southern accent and conversational tone made this interview so relaxed and informative that it felt like we were being taught by a great mentor.  

Now, Dr. Patterson made this interview great, but when we decided to branch out and hear from our ground medics around the nation about fatigue, we knew we had something special.  This episode provides a mixture of educational research with real life stories to drive the point home...that fatigue is a rampant problem in EMS and MUST be addressed for our patient’s safety and more importantly...our EMS provider’s safety.  So while on your drive home, working on your spring cleaning project, or even waiting to pick up your kid, check out this episode for Safety Tuesday.

Thank you EMS providers for all that you do.  Happy Safety Tuesday!

Cheers and BE SAFE!!!

Happy EMS Week from NAEMSP: Education Monday

To all our first responders and paramedics out there, Happy EMS Week!  

NAEMSP, EMS Med Blog, and the PEC Podcast team would like to say that we are so very grateful and proud of you for keeping our communities safe every...single...day.  We fully recognize that it takes a special kind of tough yet gentle person to practice prehospital medicine. You are that kind of person that the world needs more of.  You are our heroes and know that we respect and honor you not for only this week, but every day.

As part of EMS week day 1 is dedicated to education.  Now, everyone that is part of this blog, NAEMSP, and our podcast love to teach.  It’s fun, challenging, and incredibly gratifying. Dr. Jeremiah Escajeda, my very good cat loving friend (seriously go check out his facebook page, it’s all about his cat Chester), EMS physician, and NAEMSP Education Chair obviously loves teaching.  Be it teaching about his cat Chester or prehospital cardiac arrest, Dr. Escajeda has that “special” educational gift.

Recently he decided to have a sit-down conversation with someone who equally loves to teach. Her name is Ginger Locke.

You may have heard of her, she is the creator of the podcast called Medic Mindset, a podcast dedicated to understanding the paramedic mind and advancing the paramedic educational agenda.  She is just as nerdy (we say this with all affection and love Ginger) as our very own Dr. Jeremiah Escajeda. Together they have a wonderfully convivial, nerd-filled conversation from why they love teaching to the joys of podcasting to what tools they learn to advance their education to who their heroes are.  They even talk about, yes you guessed it, Dr. Escajeda’s beloved cat Chester. So for your listening enjoyment in the car, in the ambulance, while on a run, or while doing chores, check out this podcast here, and be entertained by all things educational and by Dr. Escajeda’s cat, Chester :).  

And for your entertainment, here’s a picture of Dr. Escajeda with his cat in a backpack...called a catpack.