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

Currently the US Government is considering two legislative acts that threaten the existence of a free and open internet by promoting censorship. The two acts, Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House of Representatives and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate.

The bills give government lawyers the power to go to court and obtain an injunction against any website based on a generally single-sided presentation to a judge. Once that happens, Internet service providers will have 5 days to “prevent access by its subscribers located within the United States to the foreign infringing site.” This would be done through DNS redirection.

Tomorrow EMSBlogs.com will join other sites such as Wikipedia and Reddit to show you what the internet would look like if these censorship bills are permitted to pass:

You can learn more and help fight these bills by visiting:

Stop American Censorship

I’m not a football fan. I know to some this equates to some sort of sacrilegious disregard that calls into question my male full red blooded Americanism, but I assure you that I am and do have others willing to testify on my behalf. I also feel the need to point out that I in fact DO watch The Superbowl. Where else am I going to see the best corporate commercials created?

The big story this past week that was touched on by multiple bloggers is actually about the hypothetical situation of Broncos Quarterback Tim Tebow becoming a paramedic…

• Sean Eddy, the blogger who started it all with his Celebrity Medic series, explains the extreme limitations on Paramedic Tebow
• Greg Friese chose to imagine the dialogue between Paramedic Tebow and an ED doc
• Justin Schorr thinks that both Paramedic Tebow’s patients and career would be shortlived
• Kelly Grayson (who apparently knows ALOT about football AND sudden deaths) thinks that even though Medic Tebow would be the root cause of a mass casualty incident, he’d still be able to stand and deliver for the faithful
• CCC offers his take and has Medic Tebow learning from Johnny and Roy at home… which may be an actual improvement on our current educational system even if Tim Tebow never becomes a paramedic
• Remember how I said I’m not a football fan, well I figured out enough from pop culture and media references to know that Medic Tebow would change his make-up to the Parable of The Good Samaritan

In other non-Tebow related posts around the EMS Blogosphere:

• EMS 12-Lead gave us a behind the scenes peek at Code STEMI, a new web series being produced in cooperation with the First Responders Network
• Ambulance Junkie took a look at some National Assessment data and seems to agree that Frankly, Basics, They Don’t Give A Damn
• Probie MK isn’t shufflin’… she’s tryin’
• Rogue Medic provides his trademark through critique of the case where a violent patient (predictably) tries to jump from a helicopter

And finally…

• TOTWTYTR highlights the fact that while EMS is in fact a service, it is NOT a *wink* full *wink* service industry and patients need to respect their providers

Have a safe week and blog those saves!

First off, happy 2012! With the new year one of my content creation/blogging resolutions was to restart this series of blog posts. I think it’s a great way to summarize the week and spread a the word about blogs you may not have had the opportunity to find on your own. Of course, with a busy schedule the challenge is to see how long I can keep it up!

The big story this past week that was touched on by multiple bloggers is actually about something that happened last year!

• Bob Sullivan sounded the first alarm when asking if breaking the rules saved a life?
• Scott Kier raised the alarm when he declared the actions as 100% absolutely wrong
• I disagreed because things are not absolute… except for taxes and the spectre of death
• Sean Eddy agreed that nothing’s absolute, refused to become a kidnapper, and got in trouble for it
• Rogue Medic chimed in off of Sean’s post with the problems of preferring a kidnapping as opposed to respecting a patient’s right to make a poor decision
• Tom Bouthillet looks at the political fallout of saving a life while rightfully making the distinction between an adult sudden cardiac arrest and a pediatric peri-arrest

A few other interesting posts not related to that overriding theme were:

And finally…

• Greg Friese issued us a challenge for 2012: 12 n 12 Reading Challenge for EMS Professionals

And that wraps up the first week of 2012! Remember to be safe and blog hard…

I love my apps. The sheer variety, mobility, and functionality still keeps me in awe. There are a couple of things though that I feel limit my experience, especially when it comes to educational apps. Battery drain, the inability to make a phone call when using the app, and at times the limited screen size can be downright frustrating when I NEED to pass the test.

12 Lead ECG Challenge Web App

Some of the apps available at the Limmer Creative Learning Center include:

• EMT Review Plus™
• Paramedic Review Plus™
• PALS Review™
• ACLS Review™
• The highly acclaimed 12 Lead ECG Challenge (the only 12 lead app you’ll ever need)

Stop draining your battery, squinting to see the screen, and getting interrupted by your supervisor wondering where their coffee is. Get into study mode and be prepared for both the exam AND for the TRUE test of your education… patient care.

Need to pass the test? Need to save some money? You can get a 20% discount on EMT Review Plus™ from the Limmer Creative Learning Center by using discount code EMSBLOGS11 at checkout! Don’t let this opportunity pass you by!!!