The Emergency Medical Services is a diverse group of agencies purposed to provide both emergent and non-emergent care for patients requiring transportation. One of our goals here at the EMS Blogs Network has been to offer providers from these varied system an opportunity to use their voice and be heard. Our other goal here has been to share best practices so that we ALL can provide a better service to our patients.

In keeping with both goals, the EMS Blogs Network is happy and proud to welcome Greg Friese’s Everyday EMS Tips to the network! Over the last two years and 1,000 posts Greg has been sharing those best practices to help improve EMS everywhere. Here’s a little about Greg:

Greg Friese is an educator, award winning podcaster, and blogger. He is the host of the Medical Author Chat podcast, and is the Director of Education for CentreLearn Solutions LLC. As an educator he seeks to deliver innovative and efficient emergency preparedness and training solutions. Greg is an educator speaker, author, blogger, and podcaster.

Greg is the co-host of the EMSEduCast podcast, the only podcast by and for EMS educators. He blogs regularly at EverydayEMSTips.com. Greg has written for EMS1.com, JEMS.com, Wilderness Medical Associates, JEMS Magazine, EMSWorld.com and EMS Magazine, the NAEMSE Educator Newsletter, and EMSLive.com.

So take a minute, head over to Everyday EMS Tips, give Greg a big welcome to the EMS Blogs Network, and don’t forget to add it to your feedreader!!!

Salt is an interesting element. Known to our scientific counterparts as Na in the Periodic Table most commonly referred to as Sodium. Our bodies need Sodium to help maintain water, mineral balances, and blood volume. Yet too much of it can have adverse effects on our health, such as an increased risk for high blood pressure and that contributes to heart disease and the possibility of a stroke.

While the newest blogger to join the EMSBlogs.com Network isn’t bad for your heart, she is definitely a bit salty… as in Salty Medic:

Hello! I’m Catie. A Salty Seattle-ite living my dream in the Emerald City. I’m a Clinical Manager, Critical Care Parmedic and Senior EMS Instructor for a private ambulance organization in the Greater Seattle area. I want to share my experiences and discuss challenging aspects of EMS with other professionals. I hope to share ideas and resources with others. Feel free to look around, chat me up and tell me what you’d like to read more about.

So take a minute and go check out what Catie has in store for us and give her a big old salty welcome at her blog Salty Medic!!!

Education as an important component to the success of any EMS system on both the individual and the agency level. While we often discuss the importance of it and the need for it to improve, we’re often lacking in the hard tangible ideas to help it do so especially when it comes to continuing education.

EMS Blogs is proud to welcome Brian Lilley authoring the EduMedic Blog to the EMS Blogs Network. Brian is a Clinical Education Manager and as such focuses on these very real topics that challenges us all.

Here’s a few things you can look forward to from his EduMedic Blog:

• Bariatric manikin construction
• Stretcher obstacle courses
• Creating Matchbox scale maps for tabletops

We look forward to having Brian with us at EMS Blogs and to hopefully spread his ideas so that education (initial and continuing) can improve for all!

Be sure to stop on by and welcome him aboard!

Here at the EMS Blogs Network we are very pleased to have Informed Publishing back as a sponsor this month for our network of bloggers who are tirelessly churning out great content for the pleasure of your consumption.

Informed Publishing are the creators and publishers of the commonly used EMS ACLS Guide App, the Critical Care ACLS Guide App, and the NIMS Guide app just to name a few.

Informed Publishing has done a great job translating the information from the traditional paper field guide we’ve used since the beginning of EMS into a dynamic application format with easy navigation systems, detailed illustrations, and easily comprehended informational sections. When it comes to applications content and functionality are of equal importance, and these apps rise to the challenge with interactive calculators and the ability to add your own notes just to name a few features.

Informed Publishing always seems to be actively improving their products and developing their content in new formats for the multitude of platforms that are out there. I have their apps on my iPhone 4S, my Droid, and my Kindle Fire. Their apps are also available for the Nook Color and for the iPad. Personally I’m looking forward to getting EMS ALS for iPad and EMS BLS for iPad when I finally take the plunge later this month and get one of the new iPads rocking the quad core and retina display.

Thanks Informed Publishing for the continued support!

As the end of the first month of the new year passes us by we would like to thank Limmer Creative who has been a sponsor of the EMS Blogs Network for the months of November, December, and January.

Limmer Creative are the authors, developers, and creators of a suite of educational products designed to help students pass the test. Limmer Creative does this effectively utilizing a two pronged approach.

First, they have published mobile applications allowing easy access to course specific content. Through the use of EMT Review, Paramedic Review, ACLS Review, PALS Review, and the acclaimed 12-Lead ECG Challenge apps students can prepare for their tests anywhere.

To further enhance the experience they have the Limmer Creative Learning Center that provides access to all their content online AND allows your instructor to monitor your progress in using those tools. The Limmer Creative Learning Center is designed for us on a desktop, tablet, or a mobile platform. All you need is an internet connection and a desire to pass the test!

We would like to thank Limmer Creative for their support of the EMS Blogs Network and the bloggers who contribute here, and encourage you to go give them a visit and check out their online learning center and apps so you can be better prepared to pass the test!

As the end of the first month of the new year passes us by we would like to thank Informed Publishing who has been a sponsor of the EMS Blogs Network for October, November, December, and January.

Informed Publishing are the creators and publishers of the commonly used EMS ACLS Guide App, the Critical Care ACLS Guide App, and the NIMS Guide app just to name a few. There are two things that really sets them apart from other developers in app publishing.

First, they make their apps available for as many platforms as possible. I have their apps on my Motorola Droid, my Kindle Fire, and on my new iPhone 4S. Their apps are also available for those who own a Nook, proving they are committed to providing users across multiple platforms with the same great content.

Second, they have taken high quality static paper guides and transformed them into a dynamic user experience. Everything from checklists, to calculators, to the ability to take your own notes improves upon the paper version and brings the same high quality content to life in a new way.

We would like to thank Informed Publishing for their continued support of the EMS Blogs Network and the bloggers who contribute here, and encourage you to go give them a visit and check out their apps so you can be better prepared for the next dynamically changing situation you face in the field.

EMT and Paramedic students pour their money, time, and soul into achieving their certifications. This kind of passion is often matched by their educators who are committed to helping create the best providers they can

Unfortunately as the number of classes and their sizes grow educators become further spread out and the sort of progress monitoring that once was second nature becomes more difficult. Thankfully the Limmer Creative Learning Center has a solution that will help educators easily monitor the progress of their students and help students to pass the test.

Educators are able to enroll their students for any of the apps offered at the Limmer Creative Learning Center such as the EMT Review app and the critically acclaimed 12-Lead ECG Challenge app. Once enrolled, instructors are able to see their students study progress through a simple dashboard interface. This will help instructors identify students who need motivation or additional help as well as commend those who are hitting their milestones with ferocity.

Instructors owe it to their students to give them as many tools as they can to be successful. The apps at the Limmer Creative Learning Center are another set of tools that may mean the difference between success and failure. Be sure to check them out now!

Bad medicine, on scene attitudes, and system differences are all topics of discussion that once again found their way into the EMS Blogosphere this past week. Check those topics out along with a few others you may find interesting:

• Hybrid Medic gives us a great example as to why you need to be nice on scene
• The EMS Outside Agitator takes a different look at a highly acclaimed situation that received national attention
• Rogue Medic gives an illustrated example on how bad medicine gets practiced by good providers
• This week Jim Hoffman tackles the lack of sleep issues most EMS providers experience working long and odd hours shifts
• Captain’s Chair Confessions gives a great example of how lights and sirens does not mean faster delivery of service
• Too Old To Work, Too Young To Retire questions the claims behind reportedly 21st Century Ambulance design in the UK
• The Happy Medic has his own take on ambulance design that pretty much beats all the current research out there
• Greg Friese highlighted a great EMS Week video that provides both a reminder that planning should begin now
• Steve Whitehead has a must read guest post on Objecivity and Patient Care
• 510 Medic takes a moment to reflect on the new system he is working in and the differences between old and new

And finally…

• Unwired Medic shares the great news that the Tricorder is back in the Android Marketplace! Now you can treat humans and Klingons alike!

Have a safe week and blog hard!

This past week the really big story was the blackout of major internet sites in protest against the SOPA and PIPA legislature. I had explained why it was the repsonsibility of ALL bloggers, even EMS bloggers, to oppose censorship legislation. I was very happy with the positive response I received from those who joined in on the action. Due to the collective movement, SOPA and PIPA have been pulled from the agenda. For those of you who blog, use Facebook or Twitter, claiming to be proponents of change in this industry but did nothing against SOPA and PIPA… you’re welcome. Maybe next time you’ll put some action where your propaganda is.

Of course, ensuring the internet would continue to work in an open and free environment was just a small part of this past week. Here’s what else was going in in the EMS Blogosphere:

• Rogue Medic asks for YOUR opinion on what you want from your medical director
• TOTWTYTR comments on some of the commentary made about the Philadelphia Fire Department report
• EMS Office Hours tackles the tough issue of whose patient is it?
• Hot Lights & Cold Steel discusses an extensive assessment tool that is very similar to the base concept of the world wide web
• Medic Madness asks the pertinent question for all us Mike Judge fans… what if Beavis and Butthead were paramedics?
• Firegeezer opens up the proverbial “can o’patient rights worms” asking if Facebook belongs in the ambulance with you?
• MK shares just how dedicated her educator is in teaching what I consider to be the most important lesson you can ever learn working in EMS
• Greg Friese interviews the author of The Comprehensive Guide to Wilderness First Aid which is also now available on the Kindle
• While CCC is a fan of The Facebook, he doesn’t think you necessarily need to be friends

And finally…

• Brandon Oto from EMS Basics has taken the time to organize a topical site index for easy referencing!

Have a safe week and blog hard!

Pediatric patients.

Just the mere mention of them can make a provider’s blood run cold with fear. While we generally don’t encounter them that often, when we do our decisions often have a greater physiological effect on the patient and bears a heavier emotional weight on ourselves.

Because we don’t necessarily encounter them as often as we do adult patients there may be some information degradation when it comes to treatments and calculations. Since the decisions we make can potentially be more dramatic, it’s important that we make the right decisions the first time. To help with that Informed Publishing has released the Porter’s Pediatric ALS app.

With all of the content based on William Porter‘s popular Porter’s Pocket Guide to Pediatrics (5th Edition) published by Jones & Bartlett Learning, the app features a simple interface that gives you access to the most pertinent information for assessing and providing treatments to pediatric patients. Broken down into the three major sections of Trauma, PALS, and Emergency Medications the information you need is quick and easy to access whether it is enroute to the call or even at the patient’s side.

Included in the app are two features that have set the Informed Publishing apps apart from the rest.

The ability to create and save notes into the app is valuable especially for providers who work across multiple systems with differing protocols. This type of flexibility is what made the original paper guides so very useful and the digital translation of this feature is priceless to any user.

The app features interactive calculators geared specifically to the pediatric patient. Just a few of the calculators included are:

• APGAR Scale
• Pediatric defibrillation
• Parkland Burn Formula Infant
• Pediatric Trauma Score
• Pediatric Medications

This feature set makes the app invaluable to any provider who suddenly finds themselves with a pediatric patient. The app is available in the iOS App Store today with an Android version in the works!

Additional screenshots of the Porter’s Pediatric ALS app