101 Things We Should Teach Every New EMT
1) You aren’t required to know everything.
2) You are required to know the foundational knowledge and skills of your job. No excuses.
3) Always be nice. It’s a force multiplier.
4) Their is no greater act of trust than being handed a sick child.
5) Earn that trust.
6) Don’t ever lie to your patient. If something is awkward to say, learn to say it without lying.
7) Read Thom Dick’s, People Care. Then read it again.
8) You can fake competence with the public, but not with your coworkers.
9) Own your mistakes. We all make them, but only the best of us own them.
10) Only when you’ve learned to own...
Source: The EMT Spot - March 22, 2014 Category: Ambulance Crew Authors: administrator Tags: The Big Get It slider Source Type: blogs
All Medics Should Be Armed
A comment by Skip Kirkwood
I think medics should be armed…..…with Verbal Judo and other established training in defusing violent situations.…with the Escaping Violent Encounters course from DT4EMS.…with a required level of personal fitness, so that they can apply EVE techniques and effectively escape from the threat of harm.—with ballistic vests and other devices to protect them from random harm.…with the support of their organizations, so that every person who attacks an EMT or paramedic is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.…with peers and supervisors who support them, a...
Source: The EMT Spot - March 22, 2014 Category: Ambulance Crew Authors: administrator Tags: Skills slider Source Type: blogs
Providence E.R. Begins First Clinical Test of Google Glass
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Beginning Friday, Rhode Island Hospital’s emergency department will become the first in the nation, officials say, to use Google Glass technology to stream live images of a patient’s medical condition to a consulting specialist located elsewhere. [Read the whole story here.] (Source: The EMT Spot)
Source: The EMT Spot - March 8, 2014 Category: Ambulance Crew Authors: administrator Tags: Research and News Source Type: blogs
Utah Deputy / EMT Stops Teen Suicide in Progress
FRUIT HEIGHTS, Utah — Davis County Sheriff’s Deputy Jason Sorensen was patrolling Fruit Heights where the small town converges with the Farmington Canyon area. It was 4 a.m., and traffic was mostly non-existent.
Then Sorensen spotted a car parked at the side of the road with its parking lights on. Approaching the car, he was surprised to find a teenage boy reclined all the way back in the front passenger seat who refused to roll down his window.
The officer investigated further and then he saw it. A garden hose attached to the exhaust pipe and threaded into the passenger side of the vehicle. The teenager was...
Source: The EMT Spot - March 8, 2014 Category: Ambulance Crew Authors: administrator Tags: Research and News Source Type: blogs
UK Paramedics Called For “Fitting Male” Find Dead Canine
A PARAMEDIC said she was “shocked” to be called out to a potentially life threatening emergency only to discover that the patient was, in fact, a dog.
Earlier this week the North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust, received a 999 call from an address in Preston, reporting a male was fitting, but, before the dispatcher could take any more details, the caller hung up and did not answer follow-up calls.
Fearing the worst a paramedic was sent to the address, racing through traffic, using blue lights and sirens, to the scene of the emergency.
On arrival at the address, the paramedic was greeted by a sobbing woman and two men ...
Source: The EMT Spot - March 8, 2014 Category: Ambulance Crew Authors: administrator Tags: Research and News Source Type: blogs
Heart Attack Signs in Women
Women feel heart attack sympotoms differently. Would you miss a heart attack if it presented with nausea, dizziness or something other than chest pain? Watch my latest Remember Two Things episode and find out the two keys to recognizing heart attacks in females.
(Source: The EMT Spot)
Source: The EMT Spot - March 8, 2014 Category: Ambulance Crew Authors: administrator Tags: Knowledge Source Type: blogs
Try Being Brave
“Just for a second…just, try being brave.”
– Despereaux
James is working at a fire station where one of the volunteer officers often shows up for calls intoxicated. Sometimes he drives the fire engine under the influence and clearly impaired. James comes to the blog forum to ask a question that’s been weighing on his mind. What is his huge dilemma you ask? Wait for it. …Should he confront his drunken coworker?
Niel doesn’t have a question. He just wants ...
Source: The EMT Spot - March 8, 2014 Category: Ambulance Crew Authors: Steve Whitehead Tags: Everything Else The Big Get It slider Source Type: blogs
What Makes You An EMT?
This poor kid has been getting a lot of grief on social media.* Apparently he passed his EMT exams and he’s been doing a bunch of ride-alongs as well as collecting a pretty impressive vest full of radios, scissors and helpful EMT paraphernalia. When questioned, he reported that he primarily responded to calls on the engine. Those calls were trauma calls. He didn’t respond with the medic unit that handled the medical stuff. (Why would am EMT bother himself with such trivial matters.)
Then, standing in line for fast food, the woman in front of him collapsed unconscious. And he, dressed in full EMT regalia, called...
Source: The EMT Spot - January 26, 2014 Category: Ambulance Crew Authors: administrator Tags: Skills slider Source Type: blogs
I Need Your Questions and Scenarios
Would you be willing to help me with my new web series?
Later this month I will be filming a web series for EMS1 entitled, “What would you do?” I’d like challenging, real world situations drawn from our actual EMS practice to present to the viewers. Some of the scenarios will also be presented to the readers for their input and advice before filming.
Scenarios can be actual events or circumstances that challenged you or they can be questions about situations that you have not yet encountered. The situations can be from clinical practice or from your workplace interactions. It can be anything that you feel...
Source: The EMT Spot - January 5, 2014 Category: Ambulance Crew Authors: administrator Tags: Everything Else slider Source Type: blogs
Seven Hard Truths About EMS That Will Make You Better
Having worked in EMS for over two decades now, I’ve come to grasp a few hard truths that, once you accept, can improve your job experience tremendously. I’ll warn you at the start that this post lacks much of the feel good vibe of much of my writing. A lot of what I’m about to tell you is harsh. It might be easier not to say it. But I wish someone had told me these things a long time ago. It took me a good portion of my career to figure some of these things out. And I think a good deal of success in the EMS world hinges on coming to terms with these hard truths.
1) Bad employers rarely, if ever, become go...
Source: The EMT Spot - January 3, 2014 Category: Ambulance Crew Authors: administrator Tags: The Big Get It slider Source Type: blogs
Make 2014 the Year Your Agency Improves Communication and Goes Mobile
(Sponsored Post)
How to Make 2014 the Year Your Agency Becomes More Efficient,
Improves Communication and Goes Mobile
Today’s technology allows you to schedule crew and manage your workforce from anywhere you need to be.
December 31, 2013 – Hudson, WI – Gone are the days when you had no choice but to use paper and pencil, spreadsheets, calendars or a whiteboard to display your organization’s work schedule. And, gone are the many challenges involved in keeping it up-to-date and error free. As George Bernard Shaw said, “Progress is impossible without change.” One change which has allowed progre...
Source: The EMT Spot - January 1, 2014 Category: Ambulance Crew Authors: administrator Tags: Research and News Source Type: blogs
Ambulance Director on Leave Following Infant’s Death
WARREN — The death of a 2-month-old boy in Warren early Wednesday morning has led to an internal investigation by the town over the lack of a response from the community’s ambulance service to the emergency call. [Read the whole story at JEMS] (Source: The EMT Spot)
Source: The EMT Spot - December 19, 2013 Category: Ambulance Crew Authors: administrator Tags: Research and News Source Type: blogs
Man arrested after blocking ambulance in driveway
The Hartford Courant
SOUTH WINDSOR, Conn. — Police arrested a Foster Road man Monday after they say he became belligerent with them for blocking a shared driveway as they answered a medical call at his neighbor’s home. [Read the story at EMS1] (Source: The EMT Spot)
Source: The EMT Spot - December 19, 2013 Category: Ambulance Crew Authors: administrator Tags: Research and News Source Type: blogs
Patient Rewarming Advice
I’m back! Here’s the latest Remember Two Things posted over on Paramedic TV.
(Source: The EMT Spot)
Source: The EMT Spot - December 11, 2013 Category: Ambulance Crew Authors: administrator Tags: Knowledge Source Type: blogs
EMS Director Improves Morale / Communication with Online Scheduling
(Sponsored Post)
EMS Director Improves Morale and Communication with
Switch to Online Crew Scheduling
Moving from a handwritten schedule to a “cloud-based” system
also saves this agency up to 20 hours per week in associated labor.
December 12, 2013 – Bangor, Maine – When using the old paper and pencil method, regardless of how small an EMS agency is, they still typically struggle to keep their shift assignments accurate and the schedule up-to-date. “We created a handwritten schedule – the bad part was trying to get requests and availability from all our members. We wanted to go ...
Source: The EMT Spot - December 11, 2013 Category: Ambulance Crew Authors: administrator Tags: Research and News Source Type: blogs
