Every now and then I marvel at how far EMS has come, I did three calls on Sunday that had they happened fifteen years ago would have gone quite differently. The first was a CHFer. Obese woman, filled up with rales, felt like she was suffocating with the nonrebreather on her. I strapped on the […]

So I have been talking to many people about this hip fracture issue and it is quite a dilemma. I want to change the dispatch protocols to send ALS to fall with hip pain. They don’t have to go lights and sirens. They can go “cold,” but they should at least be on the way. […]

A hip fracture is not a prehospital emergency. Let me repeat that. A hip fracture is not a prehospital emergency. I couldn’t believe it. But there is was written in bold. Not just a stray sentence by listed as “an axiom.” A hip fracture is not a prehospital emergency. For those who know this or […]

We’ve been here before to pick the woman up. 99 years old, lives in a second floor apartment, uses a walker to get around. Once she hits the deck, she lacks the strength to get up. Tiny little white lady with severe kifosis ( a hunched back). The last time we were here the fire […]

Dispatch: 8:07 Chest PainEnroute: 8:08On Scene: 8:14At Patient: 8:15 66-year-old female with 3 out of 10 chest pain X 2 hours. Periodic chest pain for last week. Skin warm and dry. No prior heart hx. Initial 3-lead strip: 8:16 Vitals, 02 by cannula. 324 ASA PO. Patient shirt removed, put in hospital gown Initial 12-Lead: […]

I’ve been doing this a long time — 15 years as a medic — and it amazes me how often I find new ways to do things or think about things. I did another cardiac arrest yesterday. Fairly routine. Yet another nursing home hospital bed one legged diabetic dialysis patient pulseless, apneic, CPR in progress, […]