Training & Development

Leavin’ On a Jet Plane…

Where’s Ambulance Driver next, you ask? Next stop on the summer leg of Ambulance Driver’s 2017 World Tour is the Connecticut EMS Expo at the Mohegan Sun Casino Resort in Uncasville, CT. I’ll be giving a few talks, and signing books from 12:00 -2:00 on Friday, June 2 and Saturday, June 3 at the Code Green Campaign booth in the ...

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Calling All Shooters!

So, who’s up for another Shooter Self Care course at the NRA Annual Meeting in Nashville? Same story as last year; wound care and first aid targeted to shooters, taught by shooters with EMS and medical expertise. Length about four hours, cost around $100, basically to cover refreshments and the cost of your own personal blowout kit. Date still negotiable, ...

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A Ringing Endorsement

When I speak at EMS conferences, I rarely have time to attend any lectures myself. When I do, it’s almost always a speaker I know personally. On the odd occasion I’ll attend a lecture from someone I don’t know, it’s always on a subject that really captures my interest. And luckily, most of the speakers I know and respect have ...

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In Other News: Water Is Wet, Sky Is Blue

Chime in with your comments, but keep them civil or you'll eat Ban Hammer. If the most constructive statement you have to offer is calling someone a hose monkey or a stretcher fetcher, or yet another tired iteration of "private EMS cares more about money than people" or "firefighters are a bunch of testoterone addicts who suck at medical care," find another forum, please.

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Connecticut Bound

Just got dropped at the airport by the EMS Newbie, bound for Cromwell, CT to speak at the Connecticut Emergency Medical Services Conference. This is my third time to speak in Connecticut. They’re a bunch of nice folks up there. Maybe this time I’ll get to meet Peter Canning!

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On Teaching, Mentoring and Stewardship

When a preceptor passes on that "practical experience and training,'' there are volumes of tradition, science, art, wisdom and bullshit encompassed in those four little words. The good preceptor passes on the collective wisdom - and sometimes, inadvertently, the bullshit - of our profession to the next generation, and I mean all of it; what EMS was, what EMS is, and what EMS should be. I'd say "what EMS will be," but so much of that depends upon how well that preceptor does his job.

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For You EMS Types

But in my years as a medic, I've learned a few techniques to minimize the muss and fuss of poking squirming children with sharp objects: First, minimize the lag time between telling the kid about a painful procedure and actually doing it; second, bribery works; and third, use the bevel-down IV technique.

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“Do, or do not. There is no try.”

Yoda’s wisdom is applicable to all endeavors, not just becoming a Jedi Knight. Tonight, a friend was telling me of her struggles with paramedic class. How draining it was, the financial burden, the long drive back and forth to class, how difficult it was for study groups to get together… blah, blah, blah. My response: “Pull up your big girl ...

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How Do You Do That Airway Voodoo That You Do So Well?

On a side note, the next time a colleague blames his difficulty intubating a patient on that "anterior larynx," check the patient's thyromental distance to see if it truly is anterior. The anterior larynx is one of the biggest "run home to Momma" excuses in paramedicine, right on up there with "looks like atrial fib" and "I was up against a valve."

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