Most healthcare providers, when asked would equate the role of the pancreas with blood sugar regulation. While true, this fact was unknown until the late 19th century. The pancreas’ role in blood sugar regulation was initially discovered by Dr. Oscar Minkowski and Dr Joseph VonMering much by accident. These two researchers were studying the role of [...]
When EMS professionals report to work, it’s no surprise that a lot of our patients are going to be sick. It’s nothing new for us, but this means that we are exposed to sick person after sick person, germ after germ. This can be physically overwhelming for us sometimes. We often work long hours, running [...]
The History of the Modern Pacemaker and Symptomatic Bradycardia The year was 1952 and Paul Zoll introduced the first transcutaneous cardiac pacemaker to treat symptomatic bradycardia. Six years later, the first successful implantation of a pacemaker was performed in Sweden on Arne Larsson by performing a thoracotomy and suturing 2 epicardial electrodes to the heart. [...]
If you want to be a good paramedic you need to be able to effectively and accurately read a 12-lead. If you want to be a great paramedic you have to be able to interpret 12-leads. What does that mean, it means more than just identifying the standard ST elevated myocardial infraction (STEMI). With that in [...]
Very few things strike as much fear in most EMS providers more than the critically ill or injured pediatric transport. Some of the forces that instill fear in most EMS providers is the lack of available appropriately sized pediatric equipment, the general lack of familiarity with what would be deemed “normal” vital sign parameters, the [...]
Now days, it seems like everyone has Narcan… EMS, fire, law enforcement, jail and prisons, random business owners, even the general public, everyone has Narcan. There seems to be a shared mindset, that there are no side effects or consequences to giving Narcan. If someone is having an opioid overdose, Narcan might help reverse the effects [...]
Have you ever responded to a patient who was in cardiac arrest? How long did it take you to get to the patient? Right now, the average 911 ambulance response is about 7 minutes. It might take you even longer, 10, 15, even 30 or more minutes to get to your patient depending on where [...]
Recent wartime experience has demonstrated that tourniquets can save lives. Yet many common military and civilian injuries, particularly armpit and groin injuries and pelvic fractures, remain difficult to treat in the field. Patients with these injuries are at high risk for bleeding to death. Since 2012, special operations forces worldwide have been using an advanced tourniquet [...]
Many providers in EMS often strive to and eventually attain their certification to transport patients via rotorcraft and/or fixed wing modes of transport. While these modes of transport are often looked at as the apex of one’s EMS career, non pressurized flight comes with not only emotional and intellectual stressors due to the inherent acuity of [...]
Stroke is one of the top 10 causes of death in children in the U.S. Signs of stroke are often missed in children and teens because of a lack of awareness, we think of geriatric, not pediatric stroke. AIS (arterial ischemic stroke) accounts for about half of all strokes in children, in contrast to adults in [...]
