It was my privilege to have been selected as the Official Blogger of the EMS Today conference for 2016. Like my predecessor, Tom Bouthillet at the EMS 12-Lead blog, I took that role very seriously and visited as many of the sessions, vendor exhibits, and even socials (they are definitely part of the experience) as I possibly […]

I know that some of you will be in Baltimore this week for EMS Today, while still others cannot join us. Regardless of which category you may fall into, I have some advice to help you make the most of this week. First, if you are travelling, hopefully all your arrangements are complete. But even […]

It certainly appears that suicide among EMS providers is on the increase. All too often we read articles like this one from Canada citing anecdotes and making promises. We know that the work is demanding and routinely exposes providers to critical incident stress. It is also no secret that all too often, the providers who face these […]

Of course “Black Lives Matter.” Just like white ones, red ones, blue ones, and every other color that we place as a ‘label’ on a life. All. Lives. Matter. But that isn’t the end of the story. Martin Luther King, Jr’s vision was not just about ending racism, but about stopping every form of intolerance […]

A guest article by Caitlyn Armistead Clinicals are a critical component of EMS education. These dynamic educational environments can be complicated to manage in order to ensure a complete education for each student. Consider these points as you structure your program and develop guidelines for the coming year. 1) Support Strong Mentorships Formal preceptorship relationships […]

It is not hard to find an article that bashes the industry’s insistence on measuring response time as a performance goal. The latest one I saw was published just today in “Don’t let response times overshadow the role of EMS” by the respected author Arthur Hsieh. The flow of his article follows the traditional pattern of […]

In 1974, President Gerald Ford declared the first “National Emergency Medical Services Week” as an annual observance to recognize the critical component that emergency prehospital medicine began to play in the public health safety net. That year was a time of many other significant events. Richard Nixon had become the first president to resign in office. The newly formed OPEC consortium successfully constrained production […]

This post is from an invited guest blogger. Andrew Randazzo is the Director of Prime Medical Training and is a Nationally Registered Paramedic. Aside from teaching, Andrew’s faith and church play a big role in his life, and he also enjoys backpacking, scuba diving, competing in triathlons, and international travel. — Disclaimer: I am not being […]

One of my first really successful posts years ago was “A Short Take on Long Boards” where I found myself piling on the negatives regarding our habitual dependence on the Long Spine Board. I do not feel as though I can take any credit, however, for agencies such as the Palm Beach Florida Fire Department or the New York […]

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 […]