This Week in EMS: D.C. EMS Merger Regret...Criminal Review of D.C. EMS Care...WTC Health Care Settlement

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Ex-D.C. Fire Chief Regrets the EMS Merger with the D.C. Fire Department

Adrian H. Thompson, who led the department from July 2002 through December 2006 and took the initial steps to merge the responsibilities of the department's civilian EMS work force with its uniformed firefighters, said he no longer thinks the plan can work.

Criminal Review Underway of D.C. EMS Care of Girl

The Metropolitan Police Department is now handling the investigation of a paramedic who was in charge of the care for two-year-old Stephanie Stephens when a decision was made not to take the little girl to the hospital in the early morning hours of February 10th.

NYC to Pay Up to $657M to Settle WTC Health Cases

After years of fighting in court, lawyers representing the city, construction companies and more than 10,000 ground zero rescue and recovery workers have agreed to a settlement that could pay up to $657.5 million to responders sickened by dust from the destroyed World Trade Center.

Industry Best Practices

EMS Offers Women New Opportunities

Women in EMS are no longer the novelty they were 20 years ago, but an all-female EMT-B class just might be a first. A year ago, the Industrial Council of Nearwest Chicago (ICNC), The Eleanor Foundation and Superior Air Ground Ambulance Service, Inc. of Elmhurst, IL, joined forces to offer underemployed and unemployed women the education they would need to find a job or new career path. The result was a fully granted, all-female EMT-B class.

The Corner Office: Practical Management for EMS Leaders

Five Steps to Reinventing the EMS Communications Center

The heart of every strong, high-performance EMS system is an outstanding communications center. Without a team of dedicated communications specialists and management staff, an EMS system is doomed to underperform and not achieve its full potential. This article offers a "build-it-yourself" approach to designing or reinventing your communications center.

Featured Article

Minimizing the Damage

On April 3, 2009, an ambulance from Virginia's Carilion Clinic Patient Transportation was involved in a collision on Interstate 81 outside Lexington. Though the incident revealed some opportunities for improvement, the agency's overall culture of safety helped minimize what could have been far more serious consequences. Here service leaders review what went right and some lessons learned.

Continuing Education

ECG Clues to Identify the Site of Occlusion in Acute Myocardial Ischemia/Infarction

This video presentation sponsored by Philips discusses the value of ST depression and ST elevation in helping to better localize the acutely ischemic/infracted region and predict the site of occlusion within the involved coronary artery. The overall goal is to recognize clues in the ECG that will shorten the interval from discovery to treatment and improve patient outcome. After viewing this video, take the CE test that accompanies this lesson at www.rapidce.com.

This CE activity is approved by EMS Magazine, an organization accredited by the Continuing Education Coordinating Board for Emergency Medical Services (CECBEMS), for .5 CEUs.

Abdominal Trauma

Blunt and penetrating abdominal trauma are major causes of morbidity and mortality in the United States, particularly because it can be very difficult to recognize clear symptoms early. This article discusses the incidence and epidemiology of abdominal trauma, reviews abdominal anatomy, discusses the mechanisms of injury for abdominal trauma, explains an abdominal assessment as part of a trauma exam and discusses prehospital management.

This CE activity is approved by EMS Magazine, an organization accredited by the Continuing Education Coordinating Board for Emergency Medical Services (CECBEMS), for 1.5 CEUs. After viewing this video, take the CE test that accompanies this lesson at www.rapidce.com.