“Get the board and straps!” How many cardiac arrests have you been to over the years when these words have been said in the first few minutes of arrival on scene? It is conditioned in us. I hear it from the paramedics, the EMTs, the first responders. These days, I say, “No, not just yet. […]

In our region we have hotly debated the issue of EMS leaving run forms prior to leaving the hospital. We have been debating this for over twenty years. Sure, ideally you deliver the patient, you go to the EMS room, you sit down and write a detailed and thoroughly documented PCR describing everything about the […]

I have wanted to do EMS research for many years. At long last, my first official research project with official IRB approval was completed, and our poster below was presented at the New England Regional Society of Academic Emergency Medicine Conference last March. Mark Andreae, a third year medical student and EMT, was the key […]

SAVE THE DATE Greater Hartford Mission: Lifeline Webinar STEMI Imposters Tuesday, May 06, 2014 Noon – 1 pm Presented by: Marcin Dada, MD Associate Director of the Chest Pain Center Hartford Hospital Moderator: Raffaella Coler, RN, MEd, Paramedic Director, EMS Education Hartford Hospital Please register in advance using link below: Registration Link With questions, please […]

Our regional guidelines require routine ALS on many of our calls. Routine ALS is defined as IV, 02, monitor. Recently the 02 has been modified to only 02 if patient is short of breath or has a SAT >94%. Now we are looking at the IV part. Do all these patients really need prehospital IVs? […]

Many of us in EMS love gadgets I remember when I started another EMT sold me a “whup kit,” which was a holster that attached to my belt to hold my tools. I didn’t get a big one, just a modest sized one. It held a pen light, trauma shears, bandage scissors, tweezers, and a […]

Yesterday the Connecticut Emergency Medical Services Medical Advisory Committee reversed its position from a year ago and voted to approve Intranasal Narcan as a sponsor hospital option for first responders and BLS services in the state. This does not mean that all first responders and BLS responders will be giving Narcan. It only means that […]

There was a recent editorial in the Hartford Courant, First Responders Could Help Cut Heroin Deaths, citing the rash of recent heroin deaths and calling for all first responders to be equipped with Narcan in order to stop the rise. Narcan is provided to first responders in some of our neighboring states, and the editorial […]

One of my favorite moments of the year is when the presentations given at the annual Gathering of Eagles conference are posted online. Here’s the link: Gathering of Eagles 2014 Presentations Among the topics dealt with are Ketamine, BLS Narcan, the LUCUS Device, Getting Rid of Long Back Boards, and my favorite each year, Dr. […]

There is a new TV comedy series on the USA Network called Sirens (Produced by Dennis Leary) whose main characters are EMTs/paramedics at a private ambulance company in Chicago. According to Entertainment Weekly, Sirens is one of the “12 best new shows” on TV. At the three minute mark of the first episode the crew […]