Anytime I am teaching a class, talking about congenital heart defects, I always talk about a unique patient that I had many years ago. I was once dispatched to transport a two year old girl who was having cardiac issues. When I arrived on scene, I found an unresponsive little girl, whose mother was doing CPR. [...]
I am a bit of a computer geek, ask anyone who knows me. When I was in the Navy, living on board ship, my weekends off were spent with the brand-new computer system learning how to organize everything from storeroom supplies to schedules of the S2 division. My supervisors and shipmates all thought I was crazy [...]
Just Culture has gained significant attention in the healthcare industry, but when I talk about it in our EMT and paramedic course it seems that the concept has a way to go. Too many of our peers do not feel comfortable making a mistake and owning it without punishment up to and including suspension or [...]
The autonomic nervous system, which is subdivided into the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system, plays a critical role in how the body responds to the stressors we encounter. Our body uses a negative feedback loop to respond to those stressors. As our body encounters a stressor, the sympathetic nervous system releases hormones into the bloodstream. Epinephrine, [...]
As an industry we love to throw out numbers, the most repetitive being 500 mL. We hear that number several times over the course of our initial training courses. And I do not know about the other DistanceCME (DCME) faculty, but I feel like I mention 500 mL at least once a week, and usually more. [...]
The television show Chicago Fire recently came under fire, no pun intended, by the Chicago Fire Department (CFD) after a recent episode depicting the use of a Baby Box in the show’s fire station. A Baby Box is a safety device that allows a parent to place a newborn into it and anonymously surrender the child [...]
It was announced by Emergent BioSolutions Inc. on Dec. 21, 2022, that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is going to review the potential classification of Narcan spray as an over-the-counter medication making it widely available as early as March 29th. This is great news considering that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) is reporting that [...]
Last week two emergency medical services (EMS) employees of Lifestar Ambulance Service in Springfield, Illinois, were charged with first-degree murder. Peter Cadigan and Pegy Finley, their certification levels were not disclosed in the article, were called by law enforcement to transport a man by the name if Earl Moore Jr., 35 years old, to St. Johns [...]
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a very common illness that infects almost every child by the age of 2. RSV presents with cold-like symptoms, runny nose, a cough, and fever and it is highly contagious and can spread very quickly through daycares, school settings, and long-term care facilities. Once a person is infected, they remain contagious [...]
