Two weeks ago, we started a Community of Practice to discuss EMS Deployment. The larger issue of deploying resources is all about efficiency and effectiveness in care, those are also the aims of any High Performance EMS group. However, that message is too often confused with meaning simply “better, faster, cheaper”, when in practice it […]

We always hear that EMS is still a relatively new discipline. And in the scheme of medicine, or even public safety, that is certainly true. But we shouldn’t let the fact of its youth keep us from acknowledging that it has already been around long enough to accumulate some of its very own antiquated dogma. If you […]

I love Nashville, so one of the highlights from my trip to EMS World Expo was eating at Jack’s BBQ on Broadway, but there was also plenty more to be excited about at the actual show held in the Music City Center this week. While I missed the Preconference sessions and World Trauma Symposium, I arrived on Tuesday […]

What does it mean to be “successful” in EMS? Have you ever considered what a really “successful” service would look like? Does it have all the latest equipment and consistently ride on the cutting edge of “evidence-based” guidelines rather than blind protocols? Or is it one that has a growing fleet and is constantly looking to hire more staff to […]

This important article (and the associated graphics) is reprinted as a guest blog with permission from Monica Gomez, a freelance health and healthcare writer. Originally published at http://carrington.edu/blog/medical/how-to-perform-cpr/.  The animated GIF images alone are worth sharing! Anybody can and anybody should learn how to perform CPR (Cardiopulmonary resuscitation): According to the American Heart Association, a stunning 70% […]

There is plenty of talk about “evidence-based procedures” in EMS lately. Well, today I read an interesting article that shows a link between being busier and better patient outcomes. Okay…, now after reading that statement, what just happened to your heart rate? Was your automatic response to click the link in order find fault so you can dismiss the finding, […]

While naloxone (marketed under various trademarks including Narcan) is not a new drug, it has enjoyed some incredible news coverage recently as the “safe antidote” for opioid abuse that can bring an overdose victim back “from the dead” simply and safely with “no side effects.” The surge in its popularity is undoubtedly fueled by a growing problem of opioid drug abuse, especially in the […]

Most of us don’t do what we do for the proverbial “pat on the back.”  In fact, you could even make a good argument that we don’t even really do it for the money.  So what does a week of national recognition mean for us? We know we can’t relax and stop doing our job. […]

It seems that the “evidence-based” trend in EMS requires that being “progressive” means we lay in wait for some “proof” in order to jump on a previously long held belief so we can debunk it as some old “wive’s tale.”