EMS Wisdom

In this week’s episode of Inside EMS, co-host Chris Cebollero and I welcome EMS1 columnist Mike Rubin to the Guest Table to discuss his EMS Pioneers series. Give us a listen, and if you know an EMS pioneer who deserves recognition, tell Mike about it.

In Part 1, we talked about developing your content and polishing your presentation style. In this post, let’s discuss how you sell yourself to conferences. Beat the bushes. I can assure you that the world is not going to beat a path to your door. When people ask me how to break onto “the speaking circuit,” the answer is truthfully, ...

I get frequent inquiries from fellow EMTs, all asking some variety of the same question: “How do I break into presenting at EMS conferences?” Despite the overwhelming temptation to reply, “Bribery and sexual favors,” today I’ll play this one straight. What follow are some lessons I’ve learned in close to 18 years standing in front of people with a laser ...

… there’s a new column on EMS1. To Withhold or Not Withhold EMS Treatment   Enjoy.

… Nancy Magee has a new column up on EMS1. Six Cultural Changes Made By Successful Volunteer Agencies Read, share with your colleagues.

… there’s a new column on EMS1. There’s a fine line between being demanding, and being too demanding. One gets the best out of you and your partner, and the other makes you that guy that no one wants to work with, and who works poorly with you when they do.

Way back in 2008, I called naloxone the most abused drug in the EMS drug box. That comment arose from a discussion on an EMS forum where a distressingly high number of paramedics saw nothing wrong with using maximum doses of naloxone to “wake someone up” or “ruin the high” of some junkie. Not to reverse opiate-induced respiratory depression. Not ...

Who’s your ideal EMT student? In terms of aptitude, attitude and motivation, what type of student would you like to have? Here’s mine: Female, late twenties to mid-thirties. Some college education, perhaps a degree, but in a non-healthcare field. At least one kid. In a stable relationship or a marriage. Oh, and she plans to become a volunteer EMT. So ...

… there’s a new column on EMS1. Being the voice of courage for one another. Enjoy.

Four things to bring order to a chaotic scene. A number of people in the various social media sites fixated on the one example where I allowed the mother of an infant to accompany her child in the back of my rig while I performed CPR. The objections were predictable. We don’t have enough room. I’m trying to save a ...

Debating with some folks on the various EMS social media forums lately, I was struck with the cognitive dissonance apparent in some providers’ attitudes about pain management. To wit, a distressing number of EMS providers still cling to 1950’s era myth bullshit legend dogma that providing analgesia to patients with abdominal pain complicates the physician’s assessment in the Emergency Department. ...

Brandon Oto over at EMS Basics shares a story where monkey-see monkey-do medicine went wrong. Go read the whole thing, and then come back. If you learn nothing else in EMS, learn this: protocols are no substitute for common sense and clinical decision-making. In fact, they’re often the antithesis of critical thinking and clinical decision making. Protocols, with very few ...

Steve Whitehead of The EMT Spot is a pretty smart guy. He’s kind, and he’s genuine, and he sings a helluva karaoke version of Nickelback’s I Wanna Be a Rock Star. His blog and his column for EMS1 should be required reading for every EMT. That is especially true of his 101 Things We Should Be Teaching Every New EMT. ...

I’ve been in EMS 21 years. I’ve paced, cardioverted, defibrillated, needled chests, intubated, birthed babies, given countless drugs, plugged bullet and knife wounds, pulled scores of people from the wreckage of cars, and stood over a score of dead bodies nobody could have saved. And a handful of times, I’ve even been privileged to actually accomplish the big recruiting pitch ...

May 19 will be my sixth anniversary as a Borg drone here at Southwest Hive. I’m still not fully assimilated. Likely never will be. I jokingly call my employer The Borg because of their tendency to gobble up smaller ambulance services on the fringes of their territory, relentlessly expanding their empire, like, well, The Borg. And they do have their ...