We're joined by Dallas-area cardiac arrest management thought leaders from Best EMS and Parker County Hospital District to discuss the Resuscitation Academy. Where did this thing start? How can you and your service benefit? What RA lessons have we implemented here at MCHD? Learn how to improve your cardiac arrest survival rates without breaking the bank.

REFERENCES

1. https://www.resuscitationacademy.org

Orthostatic vitals are taught throughout medical training as a quick and easy way to assess patient volume status objectively. We also frequently see these documented in MCHD charts. Is there any evidence that orthostatics help our clinical decision-making? Has anyone ever evaluated their use in EMS? Could standing a patient to check their heart rate actually be harmful? Join the podcast crew as they address these questions and more.

REFERENCES

1. White, JL, Hollander, JE, Chang, AM, et al. (2019). Orthostatic vital signs do not predict 30-day serious outcomes in older emergency department patients with syncope: A multicenter observational study. The American journal of emergency medicine, 37(12), 2215–2223.

2. Shen W, Sheldon R, Yancy C, et al. 2017 ACC/AHA/HRS Guideline for the Evaluation and Management of Patients With Syncope: A Report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Clinical Practice Guidelines and the Heart Rhythm Society. Journal of The American College Of Cardiology. August 1, 2017;70(5):e39-e110. Available from: MEDLINE, Ipswich, MA. Accessed May 1, 2018.

3. Cohen E, Grossman E, Sapoznikov B, et al. Assessment of orthostatic hypotension in the emergency room. Blood Press. 2006;15(5):263-267.

4. Aronow WS, Lee NH, Sales FF, Etienne F. Prevalence of postural hypotension in elderly patients in a long-term health care facility. Am J Cardiol. 1988;62(4):336.

5. Ooi WL, Barrett S, Hossain M, et al. Patterns of orthostatic blood pressure change and their clinical correlates in a frail, elderly population. JAMA. 1997;277(16):1299-1304.

On today's episode, we're lucky to have a couple of special guests to discuss prehospital transcutaneous pacing. Medics turned medical students and EMS researchers, Josh Kimbrell and Judah Kreinbrook recently published a case series decsribing EMS pacing capture. Like many of our favorite topics this came from a paramedic asking a clinical question with loads of dogma and little evidence. What they found should motivate us all to be skeptical when it comes to determining if TCP is actually working.

REFERENCES

1. https://www.mchd-tx.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/TCP-Podcast-Figures.pdf

2. Kimbrell, J., Kreinbrook, J., Poke, D., Kalosza, B., Geldner, J., Shekhar, A. C., Miele, A., Bouthillet, T., & Vega, J. (2024). False Electrical Capture in Prehospital Transcutaneous Pacing by Paramedics: A Case Series. Prehospital emergency care, 28(7), 928–936.

3. https://www.ems12lead.com/post/tcp-in-transit-part-i

4. https://www.ems12lead.com/post/transcutaneous-pacing-part-2

5. https://www.ems12lead.com/post/transcutaneous-pacing-part-3

We often discuss "one in a million" and "once in a career" cases in emergency medicine and EMS, and do we ever have one of those for you in this episode! MCHD Captain, Jason Jones, joins Dr. Patrick to discuss an exeedingly rare STEMI/chest pain presentation with lessons that we can all apply to our daily care.

REFERENCES

1. https://www.mchd-tx.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/SITUS-Fig-1.pdf

2. https://www.mchd-tx.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/SITUS-Fig-2.pdf

3. https://montgomerycountypolicereporter.com/mchd-celebrates-survival-of-one-in-a-million-patient-first-responders-please-read/

4. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34317454/

This is a special edition of the MCHD Paramedic Podcast. Ginger Locke, of the absolutely amazing Medic Mindset podcast, invited Dr. Patrick on to discuss rate control of rapid atrial fibrillation in the prehospital setting. She was gracious enough to share the audio for a dual release. This episode has been out in the world on Medic Mindset for a couple of months, but we wanted to offer it to our MCHD Paramedic Podcast listeners as well. Also, like, subscribe to and follow Medic Mindset wherever you listen to podcasts.

REFERENCES

1. https://medicmindset.com

2. Elam, K., & Bolar-Softich, K. L. (1997). Dilemmas in the acute pharmacologic treatment of uncontrolled atrial fibrillation. The American journal of emergency medicine, 15(4), 418–419.

3. Abarbanell, N. R., & Marcotte, M. A. (1997). Prehospital use of intravenous diltiazem (cardizem Lyo-Ject) in the treatment of rapid atrial fibrillation. The American journal of emergency medicine, 15(6), 618–619.

4. Abarbanell, N. R., Marcotte, M. A., Schaible, B. A., & Aldinger, G. E. (2001). Prehospital management of rapid atrial fibrillation: recommendations for treatment protocols. The American journal of emergency medicine, 19(1), 6–9.

5. Wang, H. E., O'connor, R. E., Megargel, R. E., Schnyder, M. E., Morrison, D. M., Barnes, T. A., & Fitzkee, A. (2001). The use of diltiazem for treating rapid atrial fibrillation in the out-of-hospital setting. Annals of emergency medicine, 37(1), 38–45.

6. Luk, J. H., Walsh, B., & Yasbin, P. (2013). Safety and efficacy of prehospital diltiazem. The western journal of emergency medicine, 14(3), 296–300.

7. Rodriguez, A., Hunter, C. L., Premuroso, C., Silvestri, S., Stone, A., Miller, S., Zuver, C., & Papa, L. (2019). Safety and Efficacy of Prehospital Diltiazem for Atrial Fibrillation with Rapid Ventricular Response. Prehospital and disaster medicine, 34(3), 297–302.

8. Fornage, L. B., O'Neil, C., Dowker, S. R., Wanta, E. R., Lewis, R. S., & Brown, L. H. (2024). Prehospital Intervention Improves Outcomes for Patients Presenting in Atrial Fibrillation with Rapid Ventricular Response. Prehospital emergency care, 28(7), 910–919.

MCHD recently rolled out Ceftriaxone for long-bone open fracture care. The podcast crew welcomes our new assistant medical director, Dr. Mike DePasquale, to discuss some background evidence and danger spots within this protocol.

REFERENCES:

Lack, W. D., Karunakar, M. A., Angerame, M. R., Seymour, R. B., Sims, S., Kellam, J. F., & Bosse, M. J. (2015). Type III open tibia fractures: immediate antibiotic prophylaxis minimizes infection. Journal of orthopaedic trauma, 29(1), 1–6.

Johnson, J. P., Oliphant, B. W., Dodd, J., Duckworth, R. L., Goodloe, J. M., Lyng, J. W., Sagraves, S. G., & Fischer, P. E. (2024). Prehospital Antibiotic Administration for Suspected Open Fractures: Joint COT/OTA/ACEP/NAEMSP/NAEMT Position Statement. Prehospital emergency care, 28(8), 1063–1067.

Muniz, A. D., Gregorio, D. J., Studebaker, S. A., Peth, A. M., Camacho, C. G., Williams, B., Kupas, D. F., & Brown, L. H. (2024). Time Savings and Safety of EMS Administration of Antibiotics for Open Fractures. Prehospital emergency care, 28(8), 1046–1052.

We recently implemented a "push-dose" norepinephrine protocol at MCHD and have already learned some valuable lessons. Join us for some vasopressor pharmacology and protocol review, accompanied by some of our new teaching points that have arisen following the protocol's release into the wild.

REFERENCES:

1. Berkenbush, M., Singh, L., Sessa, K., & Saadi, R. (2024). Scoping Review: Is Push-Dose Norepinephrine a Better Choice? The western journal of emergency medicine, 25(5), 708–714.

2. Permpikul, C., Tongyoo, S., Viarasilpa, T., Trainarongsakul, T., Chakorn, T., & Udompanturak, S. (2019). Early Use of Norepinephrine in Septic Shock Resuscitation (CENSER). A Randomized Trial. American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine, 199(9), 1097–1105.

Dr. Patrick is joined by MCHD District Chief Kelcie Adams to discuss the role of clinical case reviews at MCHD. Why are these so important, and what's the big deal? Kelcie is brave enough to use one of her recent calls as an example of the positives that can come if we get past our egos and allow ourselves to have insight for future cases.

We're working on a new series focusing on high-yield pharmacology reviews. Dr. Patrick starts us off with some background, mechanism of action discussion and common uses for magnesium sulfate. Mag is one of the true pharmacologic swiss army knives of emergency care.

REFERENCES

1. Touyz RM, de Baaij JHF, Hoenderop JGJ. Magnesium Disorders. N Engl J Med. 2024 Jun 6;390(21):1998-2009. doi: 10.1056/NEJMra1510603.

Our final entry into the EKG Manifesto series moves into the STEMI/OMI world of acute coronary occlusion. Who do we activate and why? Where is the STEMI paradigm headed? Join Dr. Patrick and Dr. Dickson to refresh your EKG knowledge.

REFERENCES

1. https://www.emdocs.net/ecg-pointers-stemi-equivalents-from-the-american-college-of-cardiology/