This Week in EMS: Getting Published...Scene Safety...Quality Management
EMS News
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FDNY Boots EMS Chief in Snow Snafus
The recent blizzard stranded ambulances and created a backlog of more than 1,000 emergency calls.
Mass. Fire Chief Resigns Over Ambulance Response Dispute
Hours before Fire Chief Jeffrey E. Phelps was to face selectmen regarding complaints about his performance, he announced his retirement in a bitter letter to the board.
Fla. FF Allegedly Steals Needles, Tampers with Witness
A Bay County firefighter has been suspended with pay pending the resolution of criminal charges that he stole hypodermic needles from an ambulance and tampered with a witness to the incident.
EMT Training Center
The Write Stuff--Part One: Introduction
Welcome to the first installment of The Write Stuff, a tutorial for those of you who'd like to try writing for EMS. Opportunities for content providers have never been better. Today's target-rich environment includes not only EMS World Magazine and EMSWorld.com, but other publications and many industry-specific websites hungry for fresh material.
EMS Safety
10 Scene Safety Tips to Get You Home Safe and Sound
For those who are just entering the wonderful world of EMS, scene safety is a top priority during the course of a career. For "old-timers," scene safety can lengthen careers and help providers make it to retirement. This article offers 10 scene safety tips that can help protect us and, at the same time, adhere to department guidelines.
EMS Operations
Introducing the Quality Corner
While some states and regions may be more progressive than others, there are generally few resources for quality coordinators in EMS, especially those in small to medium-size systems with tight or no budgets for such things. This new column from EMS World will serve as a forum where concepts in quality improvement can be shared.
Podcasts
"Through a combination of fear and old, now-outdated adages, we fail to manage pain on a large portion of our population who are in significant distress," says EMS educator William Pitt, who discusses the under-treatment of acute abdominal pain and how new research gives paramedics the green light to use pain management for abdominal pain.
Featured EMS World Magazine Article
The gum elastic bougie is a relatively inexpensive airway management adjunct that can assist the paramedic and/or advanced EMT in securing a definitive airway in a compromised patient with a "cannot intubate and cannot ventilate" airway, potentially averting long-term compromise and/or death to the patient.
Continuing Education
Wheezing in the Pediatric Patient
A wheeze is a high-pitched, musical, continuous sound that originates from oscillations in narrowed airways. Wheezing is most often the result of bronchiolitis in infants and asthma in older children. This article will discuss the similarities and differences between these two childhood diseases, along with management of the infant or child with wheezing.
This CE activity is approved by EMS World Magazine, an organization accredited by the Continuing Education Coordinating Board for Emergency Medical Services (CECBEMS), for 1.5 CEUs. After reading the article, download the test that accompanies this article or take the CE test online at www.rapidce.com.
Product News
Queen Anne's County EMS Reports $40,000 in Savings With Aladtec EMS Manager
Going paperless and switching to online employee scheduling has become "worth its weight in gold" says Andrew Blackwood, EMS Sergeant for Queen Anne's County EMS in Centreville, Maryland.
