I work regularly with agencies that are looking to improve aspects of their operations. Some casual readers may be surprised to know that the focus of those discussions is not always about cutting response times. While response is a simple and common measure, it clearly does not evaluate EMS well and certainly fails to encapsulate […]

To know where our increasingly limited emergency resources will be needed next, we need to understand where future requests for service will originate. If we knew exactly where the next call would come from, we could proactively dispatch a resource there even before it is requested (watch the movie “Minority Report” for an idea of […]

The NHTSA Office of EMS released a significant document last year called the EMS Agenda 2050 that was carefully crafted to set a bold vision for the next 30 years of paramedicine by clearly differentiating the focus of care from its original definition in the 1996 EMS Agenda for the Future. Now, after just a few months […]

Ever since I was a kid, I wanted a superpower of some kind. Little did I know that one day my wish would actually come true.  For anyone who is a serious user of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), it is not news that this week is the 2019 Esri User Conference. If you are not […]

I’ll try to be brief. As an EMS blogger, I have always believed in the potential that social media possesses to change the dynamics of how we interact and grow professionally. The promise of the democratization of information and the timely access to news and research on-demand should only be making us better at our […]

We have seen the last photo to be transmitted directly from the cherry red Tesla Roadster belonging to the electric car manufacturing CEO, Elon Musk, that is being driven through space by a dummy named Starman while listening to David Bowie tunes. That is clearly the sort of historic snapshot that will not fade any time soon. […]

Planning for the placement and staffing of fire apparatus, either in a fixed location or for a temporary move-up position, involves the comparative evaluation of community risk for each alternative. Unfortunately, our typical understanding of risk is skewed and outdated. Basing operational decisions on inadequate data leads to choices that can be inefficient, ineffective and […]

“Rampart, Medic 13 with an incoming patient report.” “Go ahead, 13.” “I have a patient with a pulse of 120. ETA less than 10 minutes. Over.” Well, this sort of report certainly leaves something to be desired. What is the age of the patient? For an infant, this may be a normal rate, but in a […]

The use of  lights and sirens is supposed to clear traffic by warning drivers or pedestrians that a public safety vehicle is approaching in emergency mode. The expectation is that the use of warning devices increases the safety of both the patient and provider by reducing travel time in responding to a scene or while […]

I recently had two articles published by EMS1 as a couple of “mythbusting primers” on the topic of dynamic deployment. The articles were Dynamic deployment: 5 persistent myths busted and Dynamic deployment: 5 more persistent myths busted. My intention was not to convince anyone of a position that opposes their current EMS world view pertaining to deployment models, but I had hoped […]