Category Archives:

The Lore of the Drawer and the Door Frame
December 10, 2014 | Administration & Leadership, Ambulance, Ambulance maintenance, change, Emergency Medical Services, EMS, ems 2.0, EMS Motivation, EMS Topics, Fire Rescue Topics, Uncategorized | Ckemtp | No Comments
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I am pleased to announce that the other day when I came home from my ambulance shift I actually performed an act of home improvement. That’s right, I came home from work, saw a chronic problem that had been in need of repair for quite some time, and fixed it. I fixed it good too, […]

Have a Stryker Power Cot? Check the Hydraulic Lines
May 8, 2014 | Ambulance, Ambulance maintenance, Emergency Medical Services, EMS safety, Paramedic | Ckemtp | 12 Comments
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If I had to pick the one single invention that has had the most impact on my professional practice of EMS, it would be the Stryker Power Cot. Sure, there are some awesome changes that have been made to the profession in the years that I’ve been applying bandages to accident victims, but those things […]

Red Lights to the Left of them, Blue to the right! – Coloring Emergency Lighting
April 7, 2010 | 911 fail, accident, Administration & Leadership, Ambulance, Ambulance Driver, Ambulance maintenance, ckemtp rants, code-3, Command & Leadership, drive fast, Emergency Medical Services, EMS, EMS Health & Safety, EMS Management, EMS rant, EMS safety, EMS Topics, Fire Rescue Topics, In the Line of Duty, Iowa, Iowa EMS, lights and sirens, Line of Duty, Management, politics, Technology & Communications, technology-communications-ems-topics, Vehicle Operation & Ambulances, Vehicle Operations & Apparatus, volunteer fire department, volunteer firefighter | Ckemtp | 45 Comments
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Ever pull over for a tow-truck or a snow plow? What’s up with the lack of a standard for emergency lighting colors? It’s confusing as heck..

The Shine Factor
February 28, 2010 | Administration & Leadership, Ambulance, Ambulance maintenance, Command & Leadership, Emergency Medical Services, EMS, ems 2.0, EMS Health & Safety, EMS Management, EMS Motivation, EMS pep talk, EMS Topics, EMT, Fire department, Fire Rescue Topics, Firefighter, Firefighter Safety & Health, Management, Paramedic, PR, pride, profession, professionalism, Public relations | Ckemtp | No Comments

The Shine Factor, first in a three part series, examines a simple yet remarkably powerful way to gauge the health of your emergency services organization. It’s quick, easy, and accurate as a temperature check.

Education vs Training: The “Professional Ambulance Cleaner”
November 12, 2009 | Ambulance cleaning, Ambulance maintenance, disinfection, Emergency Medical Services, ems 2.0, ems education, EMS Management, ems scenario, ems scenario based education, EMS Topics, EMS training, Management, Paramedic, paramedic education, profession, professionalism, sanitize, scenario based training, Training & Development, training-fire-rescue-topics | Ckemtp | 21 Comments

Imagine if you will this hypothetical scenario:

You and your roommate have just graduated EMT school together and go to work at competing ambulance companies in the same city. He works for HIS ambulance service, and you work for YOUR ambulance service. Both services have similar fleets, similar deployment patterns, and similar call-volumes. In fact, there’s really no way to tell them apart other than the fact that the HIS ambulance service uniforms are sickly green jumpsuits, and YOUR ambulance uniforms are Macho Blue Shirts with navy blue pants.