Archive for February, 2010

I’ve always been a fan of EMS1.com for news and insights from the industry, because like most internet connected people I like my media when I want it… which is NOW.

Or maybe later.

It really depends on my mood.

Check out this video coverage on the Chronicles of EMS premiere:

What I really like about that video is their shotgun blast reporting style. Usually when a media outlet reports on a story they focus on one or two individuals. EMS1.com got input from ALOT of people who attended the event.

They even interviewed the video editor.

I think that’s huge… and definitely in the spirit of conversation that spawned the Chronicles of EMS.

It’s been another pretty busy week in the blogosphere in general. The buzz hasn’t been so much about Google Buzz, but more about aftermaths of buzz worthy events. So here are a few posts that I found about the future of EMS, rightfully defending those unable to defend themselves, and the truth about the emotional toll we as EMS providers pay…

• The really big story over the course of last week was the premiere of The Chronicles of EMS. All the heavy weight bloggers had their own take including Steve Whitehead, Greg Friese, and Chris Kaiser. Of course Mark Glencourse and Justin Schorr explained the experience from a uniquely universal perspective. The CoEMS event was also blogged by some relative newcomers to ye old EMS blogosphere Jeramedic, Ms. Paramedic, and Ronnie Grubb. Gotta love how this is spreading…
• Chris Kaiser has a fantastic post about the negative emotions in EMS. If I were an instructor, I’d make it a mandatory must read for any of my classes
• Rogue Medic has taken on the defense for Pittsburgh EMS Paramedics and has asked Where was Public Safety Director Michael Huss as his EMS crews became virtually inundated and overrun with call volume? I’m really glad Rogue took this on because it seemed no one was going to be able to do it promptly enough. I had a post drafted that was similar to his (albeit without his specific sources), but he did a far better job than I could. Depending on the correspondence from a certain trade magazine that I am still waiting for, that post may be turning into a rage against the machine… again

And finally…

• KevinMD has a great post on why Doctors and Hospitals need to pay attention to word of mouth. I would dare to say that EMS Agencies need to heed the same advice for the exact same reasons

On a completely unrelated note, I’ll be attending the EMS Today Conference in Baltimore on Friday March 5. I’m only there for the day, but the two presentations I have scheduled have a 3 hour break in between… so if anyone’s going and wants to go drool over a new Mirage in the afternoon, let me know.

Have a safe week!

There is a troubling story coming out of Pittsburgh about 10 calls to their 911 center for one patient that went unanswered by multiple EMS crews.

According to the story, Curtis Mitchell was experiencing severe abdominal pain during the snowstorm on February 5. The first ambulance dispatched after the second call to 911 was unable to make it through and stopped half a mile from his home. The responders reportedly advised their dispatch that if Mitchell could make it “across the bridge”, they would be able to treat him there. The second ambulance dispatched after the third call was able to make it four blocks from his home, but still could not make it to his house. Again the responders reportedly advised their dispatch that Mitchell would need to make it to their location. After 24 hours and seven more calls to 911 later, Mitchell passed away at his home.

I’m not going to defend the actions, or more accurately the inaction, of the EMTs on those ambulances. The city of Pittsburgh has recognized this as a failure of their system and has said they are investigating it so they can prevent this from happening again. What they’ll be doing exactly is still to be determined.

What I do want to do is answer a question by Mary Bey, Mitchell’s girlfriend’s aunt, that was asked on the CBS Early Morning Show:

“The thing that disturbs me the most is the response from the paramedic. When he made the comment, ‘If he wants a ride, then he’ll have to walk to us,’ I’ve never — what are they running — a transportation system? I thought it was medical.

CBS News attributes that quote to Sharon Edge, however after watching the interview I believe it was actually Mary Bey who was speaking

EMS personnel are trained to provide rapid stabilizing care for a variety of ailments, but more specifically for acute life threatening conditions. They are equipped with medical devices and interventions that are also commonly available in the emergency room of a hospital. There is indeed alot that EMS providers can do today as opposed to just 10 years ago. However, currently all of these treatments and interventions are very limited in their scope because EMS is not designed for long term, middle term, or even short term definitive care. EMS is designed as the band-aid between scene and hospital.

To answer that question, yes Mary, it is ultimately a transportation system.

And this blog post? This is the illustration to all the EMTs, Paramedics, and Managers that when EMS is unrealistically portrayed in the media… like perhaps when Medics descend from helicopters and syringes of magical medicine fly from their fingertips curing all in their sight or they defibrillate a patient laying in 3 inch sewer water by doing a handstand with the paddles on the patient’s chest who then sits up and asks why his shirt is burned… it crafts an unrealistic public perception of what we are truly capable of doing.

We need to stop allowing others to craft the expectations the public has of us. We need to tell our own stories. We need to inform the public of who we are and what exactly we can do. We also need to make sure that they know what we can’t do.

More importantly… we need to educate the public as to what it is that we want to be able to do. The Chronicles of EMS have already taken those first vital steps to start the conversation. We need to make sure that conversation continues and that there are actions following it. One of those actions needs to be public education. This is a responsibility duty we all share and owe it to our communities to keep them informed and let them know what we need from them in order for us to succeed.

EMS Week is three months away. Why wait? Start planning your public educational initiatives now. Need some inspiration? Check out these EMS Week Tips from Greg Friese to help you get the ball rolling.

Late last night I was made aware of another case in the Pittsburgh area of an EMS crew telling a mother with ill 11 month old twins to walk to them, and then left when she was unable to do so. This came via Elmer Fudd in this post’s comment section

Sources: Fox News, CBS News

Related articles by Zemanta

• Pittsburgh Studies 911 Dispatch After Death (abcnews.go.com)
• Pittsburgh vows changes after man dies waiting on EMS (cnn.com)
• Man dies waiting 30 hours – after 10 phone calls for ambulance (dvorak.org)

According to a story in the Huffington Post, the self-proclaimed pitbull with lipstick known more commonly as Sarah Palin has referred to the social networking site Twitter as “that twittering little thing” on Tuesday at a speech in Arkansas. The quote was actually reported towards the end of a story by CBS News about Palin’s speech to Tea Party members:

When she was asked what she believed was the number one threat to America today, several audience members shouted, “Obama!”

Arkansas Republican Party Chairman Doyle Webb, who moderated the Q&A session, responded by adding, “Besides Obama.”

Palin then chimed in as many in the crowd laughed.

“See, they said that, I didn’t,” she said. “Just you watch now, too, because somebody will be here with their little Twittering thing, and it’s going to be on the Internet any minute now.“

The Huffington Post considers the knock as a surprise since the ex-governor is heavily involved in Social Media, including on Twitter @SarahPalinUSA and on Facebook which she has previously used to bypass the media.

Personally, I don’t find it surprising at all. I think she is a fraudulent Twitter user, using a staff member or volunteer to actually update her account. A quick glance at her Twitter updates show some oddities that are indicative of her accounts being handled by others:

• Her TweetStats show December as being her most prolific month with 76 Tweets that month… and then a whopping 18 for the month of January, as I’m sure book sales flatlined
• She is averaging 2.6 Tweets per day across her roughly two month career on that Twitter acount
• The VAST majority of updates are coming “from web” as opposed to one of the large number of third party clients or mobile applications

So while Sarah Palin knocks Twitter, it has exposed her as a fraud in its use… and that puts her right back with the politicians of the establishment who are more interested in lining their own pockets then doing the work of the people for the people.

This past weekend was the premiere of the Chronicles of EMS first episode. It premiered both at a live event in San Francisco and on the internet through a UStream live feed. If you missed it live don’t worry. The entire episode is viewable here:

Powerful stuff isn’t it? Way better than NBC’s Trauma, more engrossing than Paramedic: Life on the Streets, and most importantly in my opinion is that it is heralding things still to come.

I see CoEMS as the industry’s Paul Revere… alerting it’s citizens and the world that there is a revolution taking shape. It’s a grassroots movement that has been seeded beneath our very feet and has the potential to grow and effect real change in the systems so many people, both providers and patients, find complaints with.

5 Things You Can Do To Help The #CoEMS Movement

Just like any grassroots movement looking to effect real change, the CoEMS movement depends on the passion of those who support it to spread it’s message. Here are some really easy things that YOU can do to help the cause:

• Share the video on Facebook
• Tweet about the video on Twitter
• Sign-up for the CoEMS Newsletter
• Join the CoEMS Social Network!
• Write your own blog post and link to the Chronicles of EMS Premiere Episode!

Real change doesn’t start at some agency in a land far far away.

It can start right where your sitting.

It can start with you.