"Art is not in the eye of the beholder. It's in the soul of the artist." -Seth Godin … [Read more...]
You Bet Your Life
January 16, 2011 By 14 Comments
What would you bet your life on? In 1996 I took a job about 40 minutes south of San Jose, California with a small mom-and-pop ambulance company. The service was named after the owner and had been … [Read more...]
The Measure of a Leader
December 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment
The true measure of an EMS leader is how they treat the weakest member of their team. Some EMS supervisors will be given eight or ten EMTs and paramedics to look after and one, maybe two will be … [Read more...]
Jumping to No
November 21, 2010 By 7 Comments
A recent student of mine is talking about looking for his first EMT job. He tells me how he's thinking about an ER tech job but he explains how much competition there is for the limited number of … [Read more...]
What We Need Most
November 6, 2010 By 5 Comments
When the patient starts looking really sick, we quit evaluating and thinking and we begin a flurry of activity. When our patient is angry, we quit being polite and professional and we respond with … [Read more...]
Authenticity and Incongruity
October 7, 2010 By 5 Comments
During a recent presentation at EMS Expo I spent quite a bit of time talking about incongruity. I think it's an important concept to understand before you launch into learning tips and tricks for … [Read more...]
Too Much Information
August 25, 2010 By 21 Comments
It's the week before the final exam and my EMT class is feeling the pressure. The two-hundred question final looms large on the horizon and, in less than a week, the students will need to perform five … [Read more...]
Patients Define Their Emergencies (Part 2)
August 15, 2010 By 8 Comments
True Story... The dispatch information was updated before we had even rolled our rig out onto the pad. Eye injury, no serious symptoms. Jodie shut down the lights and I informed dispatch that we'd … [Read more...]
Fire Based EMS vs. Private EMS
July 29, 2010 By 17 Comments
"In Germany they first came for the communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the … [Read more...]
8 Tragic EMS Behavior Flaws to Avoid
July 11, 2010 By 14 Comments
In Greek tragedies, the hero typically displays some form of hamarita, also known as a "tragic flaw." Hamlet was brooding, Othello was jealous, Macbeth was ambitious. For the most part, it is their … [Read more...]
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