Before her nose turned up too far at the plate I had put in front of her, I was able to convince my daughter to try the brussels sprouts I’d roasted to go along with our dinner. Our family’s healthy eating transition has been hard on our long-suffering pre-teen, but she’s managing. More veggies and […]

Your patient, a 54 year-old Female, looks at you with a subtle yet perceptible look of panic in her eyes and winces slightly with every breath. You arrived with your Engine company a few minutes ago and are riding the EMT spot today. The Medic unit is inbound, but is coming from across town and […]

It’s interesting how personal experiences and professional biases can affect a clinician’s personal style of providing patient care. I’d wager that it happens to us all in some subtle and some not-so-subtle ways. One of the things I’ve noticed about my own style of personal practice is that I’m very sensitive to screening for and […]

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 […]

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 […]

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

If you’ve been an EMT or Paramedic for more than a few days, chances are that you’ve met someone complaining of chest pain. “Chest Pain” calls are one of the most common reasons for an ambulance being dispatched and for good reason, a patient having pain in their chest can be experiencing a host of […]