All tagged Emergency Medical Services

Episode 108: DEI in EMS with Dr. Tristan Glenn and Dr. Alicia Rouff

Episode 108: DEI in EMS with Dr. Tristan Glenn and Dr. Alicia Rouff

Ed Bauter
Controversy, Interview, Medicine, Mental Health

A Block

 

Dr. Tristan Glenn discusses diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the context of EMS. He emphasizes the importance of understanding and valuing individual identities and lived experiences. Microaggressions are explored as harmful behaviors that communicate negative appraisals of individuals. The lack of diversity in EMS is highlighted, and the need for purposeful recruitment and community engagement is discussed. Dr. Glenn suggests embedding DEI principles throughout the entire organization and utilizing technology, such as mixed reality simulations, for training. Overcoming resistance to DEI initiatives requires cultivating a consciousness of the impact each individual has on creating an equitable and inclusive environment.

 

Takeaways

 

DEI involves understanding and valuing individual identities and lived experiences.

Microaggressions are harmful behaviors that communicate negative appraisals of individuals.

Recruitment and community engagement are essential for increasing diversity in EMS.

Embedding DEI principles throughout the organization and utilizing technology can support DEI initiatives.

Overcoming resistance to DEI requires cultivating a consciousness of the impact each individual has on creating an equitable and inclusive environment.

 

B Block

 

Dr. Alicia Rouff joins the podcast to discuss diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in emergency medicine and EMS. The conversation explores the current state of DEI in the field, the challenges faced by underrepresented groups, and the need for proactive change. The importance of recruitment and creating opportunities for people of color in EMS is highlighted. The discussion also emphasizes the importance of cultural understanding and respect when interacting with patients from diverse backgrounds. The episode concludes with a message of showing up as your authentic self and promoting kindness in healthcare.

 

Takeaways

 

DEI in emergency medicine and EMS is an ongoing challenge that requires proactive change.

Recruitment and creating opportunities for people of color in EMS is crucial for increasing diversity in the field.

Cultural understanding and respect are essential when interacting with patients from diverse backgrounds.

Showing up as your authentic self and promoting kindness in healthcare can make a positive impact.

 

Episode 100 (!): Dr. Mark Merlin on Where We've Been and Where We're Going

Episode 100 (!): Dr. Mark Merlin on Where We've Been and Where We're Going

Ed Bauter
FOAMed, Interview, MD1

For our 100th episode, we sat down with a friend of the show Dr. Mark Merlin of MD1 to discuss how far EMS has come in the last 5 years and where EMS might go in the next 5 years. Dr. Merlin talks about his 2009 study using the MAR method to estimate blood loss as well as the recent Emergency Medicine Match dilemma. Take a listen and let us know what you think. Has EMS gotten better in the last 5 years? What can we do to improve our practice over the next 5 years?

Episode 92: American Sirens with Kevin Hazzard

Episode 92: American Sirens with Kevin Hazzard

Daniel Schwester
Interview

Kevin Hazzard is a paramedic and author who wrote the book A Thousand Naked Strangers, detailing his time as a ground paramedic in Atlanta. He's back with a new story, one that you absolutely need to read.

American Sirens: The Incredible Story of the Black Men who Became America's First Paramedics is the story of a handful of Black men from Pittsburgh who were chosen to become paramedics. It's a story about perseverance, grace under pressure, and dignity that every EMS clinician should read. We were lucky to have Kevin on to speak about the book and his experience in telling the story, and why it matters.

Episode 72: Prehospital Burn Care

Episode 72: Prehospital Burn Care

Daniel Schwester
Medicine, Trauma, Pediatrics

Ed and Dan are back, this time talking about care of burn patients outside of the hospital. Burn injuries are high-acuity, low occurrence events (HALO), and it’s easy to miss things that may have a bigger impact on your patient than previously thought.

We talk about initial basic care, why wet dressings are bad for anything more than a very small burn, fluid resuscitation and the drama that surrounds it, and pain management (in a word, YES).

Dr. Peter Antevy comes in with a Pedatric Pearl, as well…

Episode 63: Universal Truths with THE ADMIN

Episode 63: Universal Truths with THE ADMIN

Daniel Schwester
Controversy, Interview

Meme culture has come to EMS. And few are doing it better than the meme lord known to his many thousands of followers as simply, THE ADMIN.

His Facebook page, Burned Out Memes for EMS Teams, has over 40,000 followers who check out the material he puts out daily, and more join the page each day. THE ADMIN is one of a small group of EMS clinicians who use the medium of Internet memes as a way to point out inequities, share frustrations, and generally provide a group outlet for a profession trying to get through a pandemic, in addition to the usual job issues, and come out with a smile.

How did this get started? Where is it going? And how does THE ADMIN put out funny stuff on the regular that still makes you think and calls out substandard EMS? Kevin, Jess, and Dan sit down remotely and try to get a side of THE ADMIN you just may not know.

Check out his page on Facebook, or his Teespring store:

https://teespring.com/stores/burned-out-memes-for-ems-teams

Also check out:

Level Zero:

http://www.levelzeroems.com/

Saint Fisher Church of Evidence Based Medicine:

http://stfisherchurchofebm.com/

We will post some of our favorites on our social media as well....

Episode 60: Art, Communication, and Healing

Episode 60: Art, Communication, and Healing

Daniel Schwester
Interview, Medicine, Health and Safety

Ed and Dan sit down with fellow colleague and paramedic Kate Bergen about her art series that she created during COVID-19, and how she uses art to help manage her stress levels working in the challenging environment of EMS in the US today, and chronicle the amazing work that EMS has done in this new world.

The important thing to take from this episode is that everyone in EMS NEEDS to have some form of healthy release, a way to quiet your brain and recharge. Whatever you do, it is worth it. YOU are worth it.

Kate's work can be found at:

https://www.jbergenstudios.com/jbergenstudios

Kate has been working with Mission Hope, an organization to help clinicians and responders in the NJ area with mental health. Find out more about them at:

About Us

Kate's spot on ABC:

https://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/video/paramedic-turned-paint-brush-cope-pandemic-70770797

Kate's cover story in Real Woman magazine:

Working on the Front Lines of COVID-19 is as Scary as It Sounds

Episode 58: Scot Phelps Interview

Episode 58: Scot Phelps Interview

Daniel Schwester
Interview

“If we don’t sell ourselves, don’t expect others to sell for us”

This is an interview that’s been in the works for quite a while. Dan sits down with Scot Phelps, paramedic, historian, former Office of EMS Director, and attorney to discuss where we are going as a profession, how we need to look back and share our history with our newcomers (it’s much more than 50+ years), and what we must do to move our profession forward.

It’s probably one of the longest episodes we’ve ever had on the show; but it won’t disappoint.

Episode 57: Beercast 4-ICD-10 and Pockets....

Episode 57: Beercast 4-ICD-10 and Pockets....

Daniel Schwester

We get it. The FOAMed world has been a little COVID-19 heavy. You need a small break from the information flooding us all, and a laugh or two might be just the thing for you.

So, we pulled this episode out of the vault!

On the newest Beercast, the gang kicks back with some refreshments, and start off by talking about some of the most out there ICD-10 codes you can find. For example, did you ever wonder how they code your patient involved in a spacecraft accident? We went digging, so you don’t have to!

We also talk about the little things that people carry in their pockets on duty; and why…

Get ready for a change of pace, and an afternoon of fun with the gang!

Episode 54: Gestalt, Thinking, and EMS

Episode 54: Gestalt, Thinking, and EMS

Daniel Schwester
FOAMed

Gestalt. You hear it in almost anything you hear or see in pre hospital as well as the majority of medical education. It's really fancy, chic way of describing something we do every day in the field: make decisions on how and why we treat our patients. It's been termed a hunch, a gut instinct; but it's much more than that.

Episode 47: What The Actual?

Episode 47: What The Actual?

Daniel Schwester

Anna and Dan talk about some of the more...let's say "out there" news items in EMS, and how culture and social media can hurt us as professionals.

This is a controversial topic, and yes, we hope that we get some discussion on it. But the bottom line:

If you're not doing the right thing for your patient; you're wrong.

Article on starting IV on 13 year old:

https://www.lancastereaglegazette.com/story/news/local/2019/08/20/one-firefighter-fired-another-suspended-after-april-incident/2024532001/

Firefighters bringing dead patients to station for practice in endotracheal intubation:

https://www.bellinghamherald.com/news/local/article218955030.html

Check out suppurative thrombophlebitis:

https://www.uptodate.com/contents/suppurative-septic-thrombophlebitis

IV access and pain:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29772984

Dr John Hinds was a master clinician, and we miss him every day. Please watch this and see if you don't learn anything.

https://litfl.com/crack-the-chest-get-crucified/

Check out the MD1 program at:

https://md1program.org



Episode 45: POLST and End of Life in Prehospital Care

Episode 45: POLST and End of Life in Prehospital Care

Daniel Schwester
FOAMed, Controversy

Anna and Dan sit down with attorney and former paramedic Margaret Keavney to discuss end-of-life issues in EMS. How do we honor patient wishes, and the law? What is our standard, and how does our culture and training sometimes work against us?

We don't get great initial training in the end of life, although EMS is present at the majority of these events. Check it out!

Keavney-Streger Law Firm can be found here:

https://keavneystreger.com

OPALS study on cardiac arrest termination of care:

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/182615

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa052620

New Jersey's POLST:

https://www.nj.gov/health/advancedirective/polst/

About the late Dr John Hinds and his mission to bring advanced care to the patient:

http://www.delta7hems.com

#DoBetter

Episode 44: Our Cric Show

Episode 44: Our Cric Show

Ed Bauter
FOAMed, Medicine, Airway Management

We talk about a wide variety of all things cricothyroidotomy: mental prep and training, the difference in the techniques that are out there, which one might work better, and lots of other stuff. We also shoutout to a LOT of other resources that will help you to really understand this low frequency, but critical procedure.

If this is in your scope of practice; or possibly in a situation where a clinician will use this; you need to know about this to be able to care for your patient.

Dr. Rich Levitan’s website:

https://www.airwaycam.com

Dr. Scott Weingart’s website:

https://emcrit.org

The EMCrit podcast can be found on iTunes (just like us!)…it’s one of the best around with literally hundreds of topics!

SMACC was an amazing prehospital/emergency/and critical care conference that changed how many of us looked at conferences and learning. Check out their stuff here:

https://smacc.net.au/blog/

New England Journal of Medicine paper on comparing cric techniques:

https://www.jwatch.org/em200503300000002/2005/03/30/open-cricothyroidotomy-vs-seldinger-technique

Here’s the case study about the NG tube going into the spinal column…

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0196070911000755

SPECIAL EPISODE-RECAP of the EMS/MD1 Fellowship Conference!

SPECIAL EPISODE-RECAP of the EMS/MD1 Fellowship Conference!

Daniel Schwester
FOAMed, Conference, MD1

Dan recaps the MD1 EMS Conference and shares what he learned from a room full of EM/EMS physicians speaking to EMS clinicians! If you saw the Facebook Live and Instagram streams from this show; you know there was an enormous amount of knowledge being put out!

Check out Dr. Mark Merlin on Twitter at : @ccareanywhere

The NJ EMS and Disaster Medicine Fellowship can be found at: www.emsfellowship.com

The MD1 physician response program: www.md1program.org

Dr. Qasim is on Twitter at: @emeddoc

Dr. Callelo: @DrDianeC, @njpoisoncenter, also at @ToxAndHound

The COMBAT trial for prehospital plasma:

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(18)31553-8/fulltext

The PAMPHER trial:

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1802345

BOKUTOH criteria study:

https://www.jem-journal.com/article/S0736-4679(17)30471-7/pdf

PARAMEDIC2 study of Epinephrine in OHCA:

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1806842

Pediatric airway management in cardiac arrest:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30862528

Heads up CPR in OHCA:

https://www.jems.com/articles/supplements/special-topics/state-of-the-future-of-resuscitation/head-up-cpr-may-improve-neurologically-intact-survival-rates.html

And, why it may NOT be ready for EMS use, yet…..

https://www.ems1.com/ems-products/cpr-resuscitation/articles/393699048-Why-heads-up-CPR-is-NOT-ready-for-out-of-hospital-cardiac-arrest-care/

Ultrasound in Cardiac Arrest:

https://www.cureus.com/articles/18740-does-point-of-care-ultrasound-use-impact-resuscitation-length-rates-of-intervention-and-clinical-outcomes-during-cardiac-arrest-a-study-from-the-sonography-in-hypotension-and-cardiac-arrest-in-the-emergency-department-shoc-ed-investigators


Episode 35-The Last Frontier with Dave Aromin

Episode 35-The Last Frontier with Dave Aromin

Daniel Schwester
FOAMed, Interview, Medicine

Dan sits down with flight paramedic Dave Aromin to discuss the amazing state of Alaska, and the challenges of providing emergency and retrieval care to the largest state. We discuss the logistics involved in his area, the unique clinical practice involved, and the people who take on this role in one of the most unforgiving environments in the United States and the world.

The EMS community in Alaska suffered a huge blow with the loss of a Guardian Flight fixed-wing crew on January 29, 2019, when their aircraft crashed and all aboard, including a patient were lost. There has been memorial and scholarship funds established for the families of the Guardian Flight crew, and they can be found at the following links:

https://www.customink.com/fundraising/guardianflightalaska


https://www.echoheliops.org/stacie-morse-education-scholarship

This episode is presented in the memories of:

Pilot Patrick Coyle

Flight Paramedic Margaret Langston

Flight Nurse Stacie Rae Morse

and the patient who they were caring for on their last mission.