Poor Impulse Control?

Watch it, folks, these things tend to repeat: From the Chicago Sun-Times, http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/2787746,ambulance-taken-100910.article “October 10, 2010 BY ROSEMARY SOBOL Staff Reporter/rsobol@suntimes.com A man who “thought he could get to the hospital quicker” jumped behind the wheel of an ambulance and took off Saturday while his ailing family member and two paramedics were inside, authorities said. [...]

The Numbers Game

Is anybody using anything other than the GCS for field assessment of head injuries? Way, way back in 2003 DTs pointed out in a paper that there were only two GCS scores that were reliable:  GCS 3 and GCS 15.  And a 3 can be obtained by the CPR dummy, a chair, a rock… The [...]

The Slows

Slow to post – glacier slow, as I have been otherwise engaged, in part by running with Arlington County Fire and EMS. These folks are different. On my first day there, I happened to hear a story being told about a crew who were recently called to an injury from a fall. An elderly lady [...]

Us, us, us and Them, them, them

EMS providers are a strange breed. Generally, they’re not just good folk, but nice folk as well. This isn’t too surprising to those who may have run with volunteer companies. The people who volunteer are contributing far more than just the personal time they spend running calls. There’s additional training, sometimes as much as a [...]

Of Hats

It is a difficult thing, being released as a medic on the transport gig, but Basic Life Support (BLS) on the rescue side. Those not in the EMS field might think, “Hey – a medic is a medic is a medic. Why can’t you do medic stuff running 911 calls?” The short answer to all [...]