Buried down deep in the 450 or some odd blog posts I have on this site, you’ll find a few that cover how to write an EMS narrative report. It’s a skill that each and every EMT and Paramedic has to practice and perfect over the course of their careers lest they find themselves without a job, […]

Want to remember a quick and easy trick for remembering the Glasgow Coma Scale? “My Extra Value Meal costs $4.56” -          Eyes: 1-4 -          Verbal 1-5 -          Motor 1-6 You can always remember the top numbers of the scale by using this mnemonic, whether or not you actually remember the details of the numbers in […]

“Ambulance 34, Ambulance 34. 452 Smithfield Street for the 34 year old male with chest pain and difficulty breathing. Delta-Level response. Medic 72 will be your backup. Time out 14:35” Ambulance 34, a BLS level ambulance responds from their designated system-status management post to the residential neighborhood where the call came from. Upon their arrival […]

Push Hard. Push Fast. Don’t Stop. By now, every single healthcare person out there should know that in order to improve a victim of cardiac arrest’s chances of meaningful survival, chest compressions are where it’s at. Blood needs to keep circulating in order to keep a person’s heart and brain alive and functioning. High quality […]

It’s a little known fact that I can speak a little Spanish. I’m not very good at it, and I have a lot of trouble conjugating verbs into the past and future tenses, but I can carry on a fairly relevant conversation with most Spanish speaking individuals when the need arises. It always throws people […]

Is Occam using a razor to shave Zebras while Hickam dictates? I’m no good at titles. Anywho, here’s a case about a patient that may be more than he seems

  04/01/2013 – Peoria, Illinois Calling it “A save right in the nick of time” Paramedic Jules Slatterly thanked chronic system abuser Wade Fugman for waking her up at 03:37am last Thursday. Paramedic Slatterly explains “We had been running pretty hard all day on our 24-hour shift, with around 11 calls between noon and 1am. […]

Well, I learned something. It isn’t every day that someone can pull out a nugget of knowledge I’ve never heard before… but it happens because I’ve got a lot to learn. Here’s one of those times

“Any abdominal pain in a pregnant female patient of childbearing age is an ectopic pregnancy until proven otherwise.” Why is this and why is it important for EMS?

It’s a dreary, grey late fall day outside and your partner is driving your rig back from the hospital after clearing from a call. You’re feeling very comfortable in the passenger seat of your ambulance as the radio’s playing some annoying pop-drivel by whatever flavor of boy band is popular this month. You’re tired from […]