The Non-Conformists’ Guide is Here!

I’ve gone live with the book and newsletter sign up and it appears that everything is running smoothly. I’ve already had a half dozen sign-ups and the link has only been posted for a few minutes.

Thanks for your patience. This writing project took me nearly six months to finish. I had an idea of what I wanted this book to be and I wasn’t willing to stop until I’d succeeded.

The result is The Non-Conformists’ Guide to EMS Success. This is no pamphlet or power point slide show. This is 48 pages, almost 16,000 words, and chapter after chapter of compelling ideas designed to challenge the way you think about your job, your leadership, your life, and your role in EMS. And it’s all free.

If you’re ready to stop listening to me talking about it and get the book for yourself, just click the newsletter sign-up at left. The EMT Spot practices a strict, double opt-in, anti-spam policy. We’ll never reveal your e-mail to anyone, ever.

You’ll receive an e-mail confirming that you really did sign up for Splatter and the e-book. Once you click the confirmation link you’ll received your welcome edition of Splatter and the .pdf version of the e-book will be attached. It’s as simple as that.

The newsletter will also have an opt-out link at the bottom if you’d rather not be on the newsletter mailing list. (But I hope you’ll decide to stay)

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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 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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The February EMS Roundup

This month in EMS cyberspace:

The obvious big news (In my little corner of the Internet) was the launch of www.theemtspot.com! The traffic and feedback from the site has already been overwhelmingly positive and I think we’re off to a good start. In February we warned you about MRSA on your stethoscope, helped you classify and treat burn injuries, talked about the issues with hydrogen sulfide suicides and challenged you to let Patients Define Their Emergencies as well as rethinking the title EMT Basic.

Elsewhere in EMS Blogland, Peter Canning gives us Something to Ponder regarding trauma data collection, Sam the EMT readjusts her Plans and finds a new love of fire, and Paramedic Supermonkey gives us a look at what or Protocols should be.

At EMS1 Kelley Grayson asks us to reexamine The Cult of Mechanism and over at JEMS.comDoctor Bledsoe reminded us that good medicine can be found everywhere in Success in The Heartland.

My current favorite forum, EMT City got the fireworks going with a discussion about driving fire apparatus code 3 for training and kicked around some ideas regarding the craziest personal first responder kit you’ve ever seen assembled. And in the JEMS forums, Skip Kirkwood asked us to consider then notion of EMS branding.

If you like EMS podcasts, don’t miss the discussion about aeromedical safety at the EMS garage.

From the “glad I didn’t do that” file, Wicked Local Plympton reported on a fire departments lack of documentation of obvious death criteria in the death of a 16 year old girl. One unfortunate fire service put the fire out and left the body behind and IslandPacket.com investigated two Hilton Head paramedics questionable response to a man with an apparent closed head injury. Perhaps I’ll do a piece on combative head injuries in my March offerings.)

I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Do you have some cyberspace news that you’d like to see in the EMS roundup? Shoot me an e-mail or write a comment below. I’d love to hear about it.

See you all in March,

Steve