November 21, 2010 – 11:00 am
Bed Bug media hype has spurned considerable action in the travel industry, hospitals, prisons, homes and (of course) fire stations. These pesky little critters have developed resistance to many pesticides (which may account for the recent increase in infestations), are particularly good a hiding, but remain visible to the naked eye. That’s right; you can see them! What you might not see so clearly are the unscrupulous profiteers hoping to drain your wallet with ridiculously expensive equipment a…
November 4, 2010 – 8:01 am
Time is ticking away. You might want to put down those few hundred pages of Emergency Cardiac Care Guidelines 2010 and pick up a copy of the draft NFPA 1917 Standard for Automotive Ambulances. “Doesn’t affect me,” you say? I’d bet otherwise; if you ride a bus, aid car, rescue, box, ambulance, or whatever else you call that patient care and transport vehicle on wheels, this standard affects you. On…
September 13, 2010 – 2:03 pm
Last week’s announcement by the US Transportation Secretary that traffic fatalities have reached the lowest levels in 60 years overlooked an important contributor: EMS. NHTSA Administrator David Strickland cited increased seat belt use and tougher drunk driving enforcement as key contributors to the decline in traffic deaths. There was no mention of EMS. This is a grim reminder that we need better methods of documenting the outcome…
August 14, 2010 – 12:13 pm
Champion EMS EMT-trainee Casey Steenland, aged 33 died on Friday, August 13th in Texas, an apparent victim of Carbon Monoxide poisoning. Three other Champion EMS members were treated, two required HBO (hyperbaric oxygen) according to local news sources. All four were apparently exposed to CO from an ambulance generato…
National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Technical Committee on Ambulances balloting this week failed by one vote to move a draft “NFPA 1917, Standard for Automotive Ambulances” forward into the review and public comment process that would have rolled an ambulance design standard out the door during mid-2012.
At issue was inclusion of several AMD (Automobile Manufacturers Division of the National Truck Equipment Association) testing standards incorporated into the draft document without copy…
Recent news from Massachusetts reporting suspension of 207 EMTs and revocation of 4 Instructors for bogus refresher training smacks of poor oversight. But it may also highlight continued frustration with recertification requirements placed on EMS providers across the United States that fail miserably at providing any real education. That’s right…
January 15, 2010 – 12:14 am
Well, one cat’s outta the bag. In the continued debate over the efficacy of prehospital spinal immobilization, it would appear from a study published the January 2010 issue of the Journal of Trauma that prehospital spinal immobilization doubles the risk of death for certain patients. Researchers at Johns Hopkins looked at 45,284 penetrating trauma patients in…
October 22, 2009 – 10:01 am
As a firefighter/paramedic, I’m embarrassed over the scene being created by health care workers (including nurses, medics, and firefighters) refusing flu vaccination. The consequences are serious: they cast public doubt over the best tactic we have to prevent spread of influenza in our communities. Vaccines have slashed death rates from twenty five diseases. Get a flu shot in the fall and you are half as likely to die during winter as people who don’t. When physicians, nurses, medics, and…
December 3, 2008 – 11:02 pm
Our recent news announcing proposed FAA rule revisions on Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) and a public hearing by the NTSB in February 2009 cry out for fire service involvement (see: www.fireengineering.com/display_article/346289/25/none/none/HLTHS/FAA-and-NTSB-react-to-air-medical-crashes). 2008 promises to end as the most catastrophic year in the history…
