The Wild And Crazy Internet

A few weeks ago I highlighted a video that had been created to teach CPR basics to the Maxim crowd called Super Sexy CPR. The video was created by Fortnight Lingerie in an effort to highlight their product line of lingerie items that are generally more for your private enjoyment than for public display.

Over the week and change, I’ve heard quite a bit of criticism about the video. Everything from it being sexist, to it being not family friendly, and not being accurate. What these critics seem to overlook is that it is effective in educating others.

DIGG CEO Kevin Rose discussed it on DiggNation #238, and his comments about it are indicative of what a layperson in his general demographic (male, 18-49) may actually understand. Using certain clear language along with the way the information is presented is important and in this case more effective than in a certification class. The aspect he specifically points out is the video recommendation to perform compressions between the nipples, as opposed to a certification class that indicates the landmark be 2 inches above the bottom of the rib cage. It seems like a minute difference to us as professionals, but you have to remember that the typical person this is trying to reach is NOT a professionals and therefore education should really follow the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) methodology of presentation.

But Fortnight has not stopped their effective education efforts at CPR. They have forged forward with this video educating people on abdominal thrusts for choking victims…

Is Fortnight Lingerie the country’s new effective public educator for first aid and CPR? That’s the role the EMS industry should have embraced long ago, but to date has failed to do so.

So how much longer until EMS either steps up to a role it should have been fulfilling or will Fortnight Lingerie become the new EMS?

Many of you have already heard about (and if you haven’t then you’re about to so pay attention) some of the great portable EMS audio netcasts available on the internet such as the EMS Educast, EMS Garage, EMS Office Hours, and of course the MedicCast. As EMS created media evolved we then saw the rise of The Chronicles of EMS and their online video series. So what’s left?

Portable video netcasts of course.

Thanks to MedicCast TV we have now evolved to that second to the top tier in content. MedicCast TV is available on iTunes, for Zune, and as an RSS Feed. In this episode host Jamie Davis gives his opinion on the Super Sexy CPR video…

I think it’s a great format, very similar to Geek Brief TV (minus Cali Lewis and her psychedelic blue screen) for viewers with short attention spans… which is pretty much all of us. I’m subscribed via iTunes, and you should be too!

Some of you may be wondering what I would consider to be the “top tier” for EMS created media. A timely 30-60 minute daily show that offers both audio and video formats (not necessarily streamed live but that’s definitely an option) is truly the current top tier of content for any niche. You may think its going to take awhile before we see that… but I think otherwise… I’d say before the end of the year which gives us something to look forward to. MedicCast TV is definitely a step in that direction.

Be sure to check back tomorrow when I highlight the Super Sexy Abdominal Thrust video and talk about what all the critics seem to be overlooking

I’m a pretty big proponent of effective education. It’s important that when I say effective, I mean education that will prepare someone to actually perform better at a task and not just a piece of paper saying that they accumulated X number of credits, more than half of which have actually nothing to do with the task. I also think that just by being a citizen you have a responsibility to know some very basic life saving skills and that we should have public education initiatives to make sure that the public is prepared.

One of the biggest public education initiatives that I’m all for is teaching the public Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation. This is the universally accepted, administrated by either a professional or a lay person, best first line treatment for sudden cardiac arrest. A challenge public CPR education faces is the ability to teach it effectively, because not everyone is programmed the same and therefore different (and creative) approaches may be necessary. To specifically address the Maxim crowd, Fortnight Lingerie created this video called Super Sexy CPR:

Now while we all know that a sudden cardiac arrest victim is more likely to have purple hair and dentures as opposed to a blonde mane and pearly whites, you have to appreciate their level of ingenuity to spread the know how of this important technique. It’s this kind of creativity, although fueled by potential profit since the models happen to be wearing Fortnight lingerie, that we need to employ in EMS public education efforts.

Source: via John Solomon from A CPR Training Video That Will Definitely Raise Some Heart Rates

I’ll be honest, I’ve always wanted a lawnmower I could ride on.

I just never wanted to need a lawnmower I could ride on.

Unfortunately it seems that poor Steve needed his lawnmower so that he could go down to the Orchard bar or something along those lines. What poor Steve didn’t realize is that he does not have the right to mow the dirt on his lawnmower while intoxicated.

Take a look at the video which shows his astute driving abilities and his poor tolerance at being tazed:

Most interesting line of the entire video:

Steve! How many times I gotta tell you ya can’t be driving down the road, drinking, on a lawnmower?

It makes me wonder just how many times Steve has been driving down the road, drinking, on a lawnmower???

Best line of the entire video:

I think I crapped my pants!

Don’t you just love the Internet sometimes?

I know I do.

Source: Drunk Goober on Lawn Mower Gets Tazed

It is important to understand that I think having passion for something is a very very good thing. Passion can be an energizing driving force that motivates and can inspire you to do things you might not have thought possible previously.

However passion, just like The Force in Star Wars, also has a dark side. Passion can blind you with an emotional rage. This rage will cause you to react to a situation, instead of intelligently respond. This out of control passion was on full display yesterday in the EMS Blogosphere.

The emotional eruption came to full steam between Medic 22 and Timothy Clemans. I am not going to be expressing an opinion on the actual topic, but rather how passion can be a problem in Social Media.

Welcome To The Dark Side… We Have Cookies

Timothy laid the bait at the opening of his blog post when he wrote:

The following is my take on a discussion with Medic 22, a very angry EMT and paramedic student who works for a BLS private ambulance company in South King County.

Whether Medic 22 is angry or not really has no relevance. That’s a personal swipe that was totally uncalled for and is a prime example of baiting a passionate person for that emotionally charged rage type of reaction. In Medic 22’s blog post he fails to take the proverbial high road and writes the following as a closing statement:

Timothy, I called you an idiot in my IM conversation, and that stands. I also stand by the statement that you need to gain some experience in the field, even as an EMT, before you start to judge what is right and wrong with EMS today. You need to see sick and injured people before you can make blanket statements about treatment modalities.

Earlier today, I was pretty pissed when I saw that this kid took a private conversation we had and turned it into blogfodder, than I remembered he’s just a goofy kid sitting at a PC in his mom’s basement typing away… and I realized I don’t give two shits about what he thinks.

Now in all fairness to Medic 22, he felt that a private conversation had been unfairly taken public which spurred his emotional reaction. I can understand feeling this as a violation of… something… but it’s the nature of the electronic beast that what we say on the Internet can outlive us. I look at that as a learnable moment for Medic 22, because you can’t have a reasonable expectation of privacy in what you do on the internet.

However his reaction is still very unprofessional and belittling of another person’s opinion. Sure it would be nice if everyone who judged EMS actually had experience in EMS. How many Mayors, City Council Members, Senators, and lawmakers judge EMS and create budgets or legislation for it without stepping onto an ambulance? While their numbers have increased over the years, how many medical directors have actual ambulance experience? How many people, who have influence over their local EMS has Medic 22 now alienated from being aligned with our needs from his emotional rant?

It may be none.

It may be many.

We may never actually know… and that’s the scary part.

Don’t Feed The Troll

I think debate between open minded individuals willing to listen to each other and challenge the idea instead of attacking the person is not only healthy but necessary. We as a community should not estrange someone who we think may not be as “experienced” to comment on a situation, but rather take that opportunity to bring them closer and educate them as to why we feel this way and try to understand their point of view. Chances are that there are others with those same beliefs and if we can understand where the misconceptions are originating from then we can identify the source and render a solution.

Everyone has something to contribute to the conversation. We need passionate people to be able to really effect the kind of culture change we want to see in EMS. We need to respect the passion that other people have even when their opinion differs from our own, and keep our passion professional.

However it is important that we recognize someone who is failing to listen to the discussion and is more interested in creating controversy than contributing substance for what they are.

An internet troll.

My advice when these creatures appear is simple… don’t feed the troll lest you run the risk of becoming a troll yourself.

Be responsible with your use of Social Media. Learn the Responder Do’s and Don’ts of Using Social Media while working that I published in July of 2009. For a better understanding of Social Media Best Practices, sign up for the E-mail Bootcamp at PIOSocialMediaTraining.com