It was an incredible week of learning at EMS Today 2014, … I will fill you in on the highlights of my personal experience.

The basic disagreement is whether EMS is fundamentally a “service” provided as cost effectively as possible, or is it an “asset” to be nurtured for the health of its people and its economy.

I would like to paraphrase John Lennon in saying that “Your career is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”

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.”

Take the recent events that have happened and let them make you more aware, not more afraid. Work with others to help them understand the real-world of “scene safety” and practice it in every call.

Even if you do not subscribe to the idea of such significant change to subsidized out of hospital care, there are other potentials for community involvement that will pragmatically improve the effectiveness of emergency care such as empowering bystanders to act.

In the past several months, I have seen articles challenging standard practices toward intubation and c-spine immobilization – basic tenets of our practice – but how many agencies have made any significant investigation toward change in these protocols?