Morphine, Dilaudid, Fentanyl… these are medications that we have been giving our patients for years, to treat their pain. Chest pain, give an opioid. Broken bone, give an opioid. Abdominal pain, give an opioid. Back pain, give an opioid. For many years, these were our only pain medication options in an ambulance. That is finally starting [...]
In the medical profession, it is not unthinkable that we might have to triage people during a mass casualty incident, or MCI. From multi-vehicle car crashes, mass shootings, terroristic attacks, and even weather-related incidents, such as tornados, earthquakes, or hurricanes. Within just a matter of moments, we can easily become overwhelmed by patients, all begging for [...]
ASD-If you meet just one person on the Autism Spectrum, you’ve met only one person on the Autism Spectrum Donald Gray Triplett. (Born September 8, 1933, Forest, Mississippi, U.S.—died June 15, 2023, Forest, Mississippi), American male who was the first person diagnosed with autism. His parents, unable to cope with some of his developmental delays, committed him [...]
As medical professionals, when we are assessing our patients, one of the most common questions that we ask, is “what medications are you taking?” A lot of medics think that we only need to know about prescriptions medications, but this is not true. We need to know all of the patient’s prescription medications, all of their [...]
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a diagnosis that has been around for a very long time but is becoming increasingly more common for emergency medical services personnel to encounter. Quality of care and correct care comes down to having a basic understanding of ASD. Autism spectrum disorder is a disability that causes delays in communication, social [...]
Are you pulling my leg? -femur fractures The Thomas splint was first introduced by Hugh Owen Thomas in 1875, in his book titled, Diseases of the hip, knee and ankle joints with their deformities, treated by a new and efficient method. Across the western front, the splint was adopted and by 1917, it had become standard issue [...]
As temperatures rise, heat-related emergencies become a significant concern for emergency medical service (EMS) providers. While most people associate heat-related incidents with dehydration or heatstroke, respiratory emergencies induced by heat exposure are often overlooked. I would like to shed light on the topic of heat-related respiratory emergencies, providing EMS providers with essential knowledge and strategies to [...]
No longer will you ask your patient what kind of heart surgery they had upon seeing that sternotomy scar from an incision made before they saw through the length of your sternum and then reconnect it with wires after they’re done. If you haven’t already, you will have the patient that denies any heart problems [...]
The trauma triad of death is made up of hypothermia, coagulopathy, and acidosis. And when it comes to hemorrhagic shock that will occur unless we intervene as quickly as possible. If possible, we want to interrupt the development of the triad be addressing the individual parts as quickly as possible. Hypothermia occurs in cases of [...]
The life you save may not be the patient you’re treating. A head trauma patient may not be as lucky as Phineas P Gage. If you’re not familiar with his story, briefly he had a pointed iron rod 1 ¼ inches in diameter and 3 feet 7 inches log enter under his left eye and [...]
