Critical Levels by Critical Levels

04.29.2024

BVM - Dr. Bonnie Snyder

On this month’s episode, we’re joined by Dr. Bonnie Snyder to discuss BVM as well her recently published paper in Resuscitation: Association of small adult ventilation bags with return of spontaneous circulation in out of hospital cardiac arrest. During...

04.24.2024

TBI - Dr. Katie Lin

On this month’s episode, we’re joined by Dr. Katie Lin to discuss TBI and the crashing brain. During the episode, you’ll hear us cover: head injury differentials and history gathering ischemic vs hemorrhagic head injury etiology head injury...

03.28.2024

Pediatric Cardiac Arrest - Dr. Janice Tijssen

On this month’s episode, we’re joined by Dr. Janice Tijssen to discuss pediatric cardiac arrest. During the episode, you’ll hear us cover: The importance of our early interventions What is cardiac arrest incidence/epidemiology etiology risk factors/past medical history outcomes...

02.29.2024

Suboxone - Dr Louisa Marion-Bellemare

On this month’s episode, we’re joined by Dr. Louisa Marion-Bellemare to discuss Suboxone (buprenorphine/naloxone) and managing patients who use illicit and controlled drugs. During the episode, you’ll hear us cover: history of the drug crisis lay of the land...

01.30.2024

Wilderness Medicine - Matt Smith

On this month's episode, we chat with Matt Smith about wilderness medicine. As we shift from a high resource to a low resource setting, there are 3 main concepts to consider: - Ideal to real - High risk to low risk...

12.28.2023

Episode 35 - ACS - Dr. Jesse McLaren

On this month’s episode, we discuss acute coronary syndrome (ACS) with Dr. Jess McLaren We define ACS, we cover pathophysiology, and some common causes. Importantly we discuss the assessment of this patient population - paying attending to both objective and...

10.31.2023

Anaphylaxis - Drs. Hendin & Lanoue

08.31.2023

A Dive Into Drowning - Dr. James Gilbertson

On this episode, we’re joined by Dr. James Gilbertson with the Ottawa Hospital, and Cst. Caroline Gallant with The Ottawa Police Marine, Dive and Trails (MDT) Unit. We take a dive into drowning and cover: What drowning is The scale...

07.24.2023

Substance Use and the Paramedic Role - Jen Bolster

In British Columbia 7 people per day are dying as a result of a highly contaminated toxic supply of drugs. Since the announcement of the public health crisis related to illicit drug toxicity deaths in 2016 over 12,000 people have...

05.24.2023

No Statistical Difference - Dr. Ken Milne

“No statistical difference” On today’s episode of Critical Levels, we chat with Dr. Ken Milne of the Skeptics’ Guide to Emergency Medicine (https://thesgem.com; @thesgem). We start with a high-level discussion and literature and evidence, and then apply these concepts to...

04.30.2023

Preparing Paramedics: Palliative Care - Cheryl Cameron Tyne Lunn

Paramedics receive little education on grief and bereavement. As paramedicine integrates palliative approaches to care, it has become very apparent paramedics are under-prepared for the crucial role they play in supporting patients and families in grief and recognizing and responding...

01.30.2023

Episode 29 - High Performance Cardiac Arrest Management - Adam Perrett and Mike Humphrey

On today’s episode, we carry on last month’s conversation about cardiac arrest management and care. Recorded at the Paramedicine Across Canada Expo (PACE) Conference in Saskatoon in September 2022, we’re sitting down with Mike Humphrey and Adam Perrett of...

12.19.2022

DOSE VF with Dr. Sheldon Cheskes

On today's episode, we chat with Dr. Sheldon Cheskes, principal investigator of the landmark DOSE VF trial. In this study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Cheskes and his team wanted to evaluate DSED and VC defibrillation...

11.21.2022

Episode 27 - Pediatric Pain with Dr. Samina Ali

Pain is a condition that we often see in the prehospital world, yet for a variety of reasons, we're bad at treating it. On today's episode with pain expert Dr. Samina Ali, we go through what pain is, pain assessment,...

09.08.2022

First Responder Mental Health with Dr. Simon Hatcher

Join us this month as we chat with Dr. Simon Hatcher, psychiatrist at the Ottawa Hospital and Ottawa Inner City Health, about First Responder Mental Health Who gets PTSD, what’s the pathway/differences to mental health professionals, how do we...

07.31.2022

IveGotYourBack911

IVEGOTYOURBACK911 was started by paramedics Jill Foster & Shaun Taylor in 2014. The goal of the campaign is to spread social awareness worldwide in regards to First Responder mental health issues. On this month’s episode of Critical Levels, we sit...

06.28.2022

Prehospital Trauma Care with Dr. Brodie Nolan

On today’s episode, we chat with Dr. Brodie Nolan, an emergency physician and trauma team leader at St. Michael's Hospital (one of Canada’s largest trauma centres), and a transport medicine physician for ORNGE. We discuss what trauma is, and how...

05.25.2022

PICU & Organ Donation with Dr. Sonny Dhanani

On today’s episode we sit down with Dr. Sonny Dhanani, Chief of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO). We discuss the approach and management of the critically ill child, with an in-depth...

03.31.2022

Human Trafficking - Dr. Lindsay Cheskes

The United Nations (UN) defines human trafficking (HT) as “the recruitment, transport, transfer, harbouring, or receipt of a person by such means as threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud, or deception for the purpose of...

02.28.2022

Canadian Medical Emergency Response Team with Lt. Col. Leilani Doyle MD

After the War in Afghanistan, the Chief of Defence Staff of the Canadian Armed Forces decided to create a brand new forward aeromedical evacuation capability. This is where our episode’s guest comes in. We speak with Dr. Leilani Doyle, Lt....

01.27.2022

Good Medicine in Bad Places – Sierra Team & SAR Techs

Not all paramedics respond to just 911 calls. On today’s episode, we’re chatting with Matt Cruchet and Sgt. Gregory Hudson Matt is a key member of the Country of Renfrew Paramedic Service’s Sierra Team – essentially their special operations arm....

12.29.2021

ROSC with Dr. Kyeremanteng

On today's episode with Dr. Kyeremanteng, we're covering all things ROSC: what is ROSC? How do we optimize our patient's physiology (the A-B-Cs) post-arrest? What happens next - what's TTM, how does neuroprognostication happen? Lastly, we cover what is the...

11.17.2021

Prehospital Obstetrics with Dr. Glenn Posner

Obstetrics. Arguably one of the scarier and uncomfortable things we do as paramedics, at least that’s what I think. If you’re looking for a way to make this tremendously stressful call just a little bit easier, then I think you’ve...

10.20.2021

Stroke with Dr. Grant Stotts

CVA are amongst the top 5 causes of death, and number 1 cause of disability in N.A. Given the associated morbidity and mortality, rapid recognition and aggressive management is of the utmost importance. The American Heart Association (AHA) and...

08.03.2021

Critical Care Paramedicine and ORNGE with Natalie Lavergne

Join us as we sit down with Critical Care Paramedic Natalie Lavergne with ORNGE - to discuss exactly that: critical care paramedicine and ORNGE, the Ontario air ambulance service. In this episode, we cover: What is a critical care paramedic...

06.21.2021

The Hamilton Verdict | A Legal Analysis with Chris Robertson

On June 8th 2021, The Honourable Mr. Justice H.S. Arrell gave his judgment finding 2 Hamilton paramedics, Christopher Marchant & Steven Snively, guilty of failing to provide the necessaries of life to Yosif Al-Hasnawi (19), who died on December 2...

04.22.2021

Bruises, Breaks, and Burns: Child & Youth Maltreatment with Dr. Michelle Ward

Is it an accident or is it abuse? Tune in with Dr. Michelle Ward, Division Head of Child and Youth Protection at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, as we discuss what paramedics need to know about child & youth...

03.10.2021

Managing the Critically Ill Paediatric Patient with Jon Lee

Tune in with Jon Lee, formerly from the ORNGE Pediatric Critical Care Transport Team as he discusses his approach to the critically ill child

01.18.2021

The ABCs of Cardiac Arrest Management with Dr. Ian Drennan | Part 2

Continue our conversation with Dr. Drennan about cardiac arrest care. We've reached the end of our algorithms - what can we do next?

01.12.2021

The ABCs of Cardiac Arrest Management with Dr. Ian Drennan

We claim to practice evidence-based medicine, but what does the evidence actually say about how we manage our cardiac arrests? Tune in to our discussion to find out

11.30.2020

Tactical Paramedicine with Benoit Jolicoeur

Tactical paramedicine, rescue task force, tourniquets, and massive life-threatening hemorrhage. Tune in to our conversation about these topics with Ben Jolicoeur of the Ottawa Paramedic Service Paramedic Tactical Unit

11.02.2020

Cognitive Bias and Metacognition with Dr. Vanessa Bohn

How do we make decisions? How does our bias impact patient care? Listen in to our conversation with Dr. Vanessa Bohn as we discuss cognitive errors, metacognition, and cognitive bias

08.25.2020

COVID-19: What Paramedics Need to Know!

Join us as we chat with Jason Buick, the lead author of the recent article published in the Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine (CJEM) - COVID 19: What Paramedics Need to Know!

07.08.2020

We Speak For The Dead: Dr. Louise McNaughton-Filion

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Louis McNaughton-Filion, Regional Supervision Coroner for Eastern Ontario. We cover death investigations, what paramedics need to be aware of on suspicious scenes, and some of the pathophysiology/body changes after death.

03.30.2020

Calming the Chaos with Will Johnston - Part 2

In part 2 of our conversation with Will Johnston about Calming the Chaos, we discuss the importance of a pre-brief, the zero-point survey, communication/language, graded assertiveness, debriefing, and working with our allied partners.

03.20.2020

Calming the Chaos with Will Johnston - Part 1

Listen to part 1 of our conversation with Will Johnston about Calming the Chaos. In this episode, we cover some of the physiological responses to stress and it's the impact on team performance as well as individual performance, as well...

02.14.2020

Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) with Dr. Vera Etches from Ottawa Public Health

Tune in as we chat with Dr. Vera Etches, Medical Officer of Health from Ottawa Public Health about coronavirus, how OPH is preparing, and how local healthcare partners are working together

01.30.2020

Pediatric Respiratory Illnesses with Dr. Allan Shefrin

Join Dr. Allan Shefrin, a pediatric emergency physician at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) discuss pediatric respiratory illnesses. Detailed show notes can be found on our website: www.criticallevels.ca

01.05.2020

Episode 1 - An Introduction

Check out our first episode - a brief introduction to the new "Critical Levels" podcast series - a podcast directed at paramedics, for paramedics, with a Canadian and local bias.

01.03.2020

Pediatric Concussion with Dr. Roger Zemek

Join Dr. Roger Zemek, a pediatric emergency physician at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) and researcher at the CHEO Research Institute discuss pediatric concussion. Detailed show notes can be found on our website: www.criticallevels.ca

12.16.2019

Episode 1 - An Introduction

Hello everyone and welcome to “Critical Levels” - a new podcast dedicated to having critical conversations in paramedicine. This episode is a brief introduction to the new “Critical Levels” podcast series - a podcast directed at paramedics, for paramedics, with...