The June EMS Roundup

“In June, as many as a dozen species may burst their buds on a single day. No man can heed all of these anniversaries; no man can ignore all of them.”

-Aldo Leopold

So many anniversaries. So many happenings in the EMS world. Regardless of how many of them you attempted to heed, you were bound to miss a few. Here’s to the stuff you may have inadvertently ignored.

I started the month with a webinar on how to pass the national registry cognitive exam and quickly moved on to the name the chronicles contest and part three of the very popular ultimate guide to EMT vital signs. I asked you two telling questions with “Where do you put the fear?” and “Are you an EMS nonconformist?” before asking you to consider what will happen on the day that your career clock strikes midnight. Then we talked about what really motivates us and wrapped up with ten reasons why I work in EMS.

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The April EMS Roundup

April is a promise that May is bound to keep.
- Hal Borland

I can’t make any promises about May, but I can venture a guess that the world of EMS will be every bit as interesting as it was in April here at The Spot. I started by telling you about the hydrogen peroxide, blood stain trick and then moved on to a few thoughts about assessment and scope of practice. Then we spent a few suspenseful days on the EMT liability pop quiz followed up with some thoughts on failure and a request to tell The Discovery Channel about The Chronicles of EMS. I ended off with a little observation about bringing yourself to work and that brings us here. *Deep breath.*

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The March EMS Roundup

Slayer of the winter, art thou here again? O welcome, thou that bring’st the summer nigh! The bitter wind makes not the victory vain. Nor will we mock thee for thy faint blue sky.

– William Morris

Thou that bring’st the fertilizer and lawn care nigh! Spring is indeed welcome here at The EMT Spot and with the snow blower tucked away it’s time to review the month that was.

We started off the month with a bunch of questions. What does it mean to be safe at home, to walk or not to walk and five hard questions about EMS 2.0. Then I told you all about L.C.E.S. for EMT’s, trust as a currency and what it means to have a deep and abiding respect. I Asked you if you’d ever posted a comment, (If you haven’t, there’s still time.) Then told you about ACE Inhibitors and tore apart the meanings of two phrases, “I’m only an EMT Basic.” and “It’s not my emergency.” Then we wrapped up with the illusion of control and the helmet / c-spine issue.

Now it’s time to hit the surf. But not before we look at some other folks blogs too. There’s so much good writing out there in the EMS blog world, it’s hard to keep up with it all.

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The February EMS Roundup

In the coldest February, as in every other month in every other year, the best thing to hold on to in this world is each other.

                    – Linda Ellerbee (American Journalist)

And what better way to bring the EMS world together than the Internet? February was full of news and fun at The Spot. I hid inside from the Colorado cold and wrote about how to set up an IV line firefighter style. I asked you if you knew what was in the last issue of Splatter. (If you subscribed you’d know!) We discussed tips for mastering the head-to-toe assessment and getting people to hang up their cell phones. The premier of The Chronicles of EMS was the coolest thing is the blogging world. And we explored credibility and redundancy before launching into two posts on hypothermia. (Specifically how to assess it and how to treat it.) Then we wrapped up with a few musings about what it means to be passionate and what it’s like to be a firefighter. My fingers bleed for you.

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The November EMS Roundup

“Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp drizzly November in my soul … then, I account it high time to get me to the sea.”

Herman Melville

When the cold November finds me grim about the mouth I find myself drawn to a warm fireplace and the click of my laptop’s keyboard. Lucky you. In November we kicked off with the idea that details matter. We discussed the importance of determination and I reminded you to ask the patient. I also pointed out ten things you can’t learn about EMS sitting in front of your computer and I made the polite request; don’t be a jerk. Chris Framstead took a walk down memory lane and talked about how things were back in the day. I told you about the ultimate EMS protocol and the controversy over c-spine immobilization. And we even found time to explore podcasting and the sternal rub. (Insert deep breath here.)

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The October EMS Round-Up

“There is no season when such pleasant and sunny spots be lighted on, and produce so pleasant an effect on the feelings, as now in October.”

                – Nathaniel Hawthorne

Our first blizzard of the year just passed through and the first rays of post blizzard sun are shining down upon the front range. October seemed to come and go in a flash here at The Spot and we covered a lot of ground. We started with the normalization of deviance and ended with a look at bad ideas (and why they tend to stick around.) In between we talked about SOAP reporting and being nice. We talked about what makes a good EMT (twice) and thought about what we think about our jobs. Then we addressed atypical chest pain and the meaning of the word pandemic. We even squeezed in some research on cardiac patient care times and Aspirin administration. If you missed any of it, you can still find it all right here.

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The August EMS Roundup

Remember to be gentle with yourselves and others. We are all children of chance and none can say why some fields blossom while others lay brown beneath the August sun. Care for those around you. Their dreams are no less than yours. Care less for your harvest than for how it is shared and your life will have meaning and your heart will have peace.           – Kent Nerburn, Author

Let me begin by saying how thankful I am for the amazing harvest that we had at The EMT Spot in August. The site set new records for unique visitors in a day and total visitors for the month. I’m proud of what we created here this month. We started with a simple truth, You Can’t give Away What You Don’t Have and a simple request, Be Remarkable. I shared Six Techniques to Nail The IV Every Time and told the story of a bunch of seniors who Got Nude to Protect Their Local Volunteer Squad.

After that we pushed our understanding of The 1-10 Pain Scale and talked a bit about the gear we carry in What’s In Your Pockets? I asked you to make peace with the idea that much of your medicine is Simply Wrong and gave you some tips to Make Sure Your Hand-Off Report Gets Heard. For my contribution to The Handover Blog Carnival, I discussed My First Cardiac Arrest and then dove into the Use of OPQRST.

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The July EMS Roundup

      “The flames kindled on the 4 of July 1776, have spread over too much of the globe to be extinguished by the feeble engines of despotism; on the contrary, they will consume these engines and all who work them”                                     

              Thomas Jefferson, Author of The Declaration of Independence

While I would never be so presumptuous as to compare the writings here at The EMT Spot to the profound words authored by Thomas Jefferson, I think we had some fairly good stuff to offer in July.

We started with the idea that life, and work, is primarily about where you chose to focus. Then we described the controversial hand drop test and a few words of wisdom from Chief Mike West. I told you about seven EMS blogs you should read before diving head first into a three part series on head injuries. I rumbled a bit about quality assurance in EMS and settling for “almost good enough” before rounding off the month by answering the question, “What is GHB anyway.”

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The June EMS Roundup

“And what is so rare as a day in June. Then, if ever, come perfect days.”

James Russell Lowe, American Poet

Perfect days indeed. Though Colorado was hit with a rash of tornadoes, things were steady in cyberspace. If June is a month for growth we definitely experienced more of that here at The EMT Spot. We set new all time highs for daily traffic and monthly visitors. And just what was everyone here to see?

We started by asking the question, “Is What We Do A Science Or An Art?” followed by a recommendation to try The Face Flick technique to evaluate mental status. I wondered when we make the transition from Get To vs Have To and gave some advice on making Connections with your patients. We boned up on some knowledge points about The Functions of Abdominal Organs, The Duty to Act, and The Good Samaritan Act. I even got in a few rants about DCAPBTLS and The OSP Trooper vs Paramedic Circus.

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The May EMS Roundup

Just like that, May has come and gone. Here at The EMT Spot we had a bunch of good stuff go down. Inspired by Mark over at Medic999, I wrote a piece about coping with tragedy in EMS. I also challenged you to stop whining and ask your self the question, “Who’s going to stop me?” After a not-so-brief explanation of nystagmus, we talked about five assessment findings that should concern you and even discussed social networks and beer bongs. And we can’t forget Jimmy Futrelle’s awesome guest post about responding to sexual assault.

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