Other morning I come in, move the gear, check the ambulance. All seems well.

The only difference between now and my younger years is it is easier now to pick myself up when I fall. If I miss an IV or am off base in my assessment, it doesn’t crush me like it used to. Learn and move on. And when I do a really good job, well, I’ve been humbled too much to stick my chest out too far.

These are not the only two times epi 1:1000 has been given IV. It is, in fact, a not uncommon error. Whether the medic is a fool or an excellent medic badly screwing up, the fact is the drug is right there in the kit waiting not just to save a life, but to take one.

I enjoy the show even though I ultimately dislike the lead character. Nurse Jackie is self absorbed with a dubious ethical sense, but that ethical sense aside, she knows what is going on with her patients and she knows the system. She reminds me in her actions and demeanor of nurses I have known. Tough exterior, a mean streak, but with some true Florence Nightingale thrown in.

Australian author and former paramedic Katherine Howell has written her third EMS-related crime thriller, Cold Justice. Like her first two thrillers, Frantic and the Darkest Hour, it is a great read. The books have a constant character in police detective Ella Marconi, who teams with a different paramedic in each book to solve the crime. […]

So 90 minutes is the goal? But is there anything magic about the 90 minute time? And how much better or worse does someone do if they get to the cath lab earlier or later than the 90 minutes?

Every ambulance company president, every hospital CEO, fire chief, municipal elected official, EMS medical director, state and regional EMS representative, right on down to front line paramedic, EMT and first responder ought to attend one of these ceremonies every year.