The JEMS Report

This podcast discusses hypoglycemia research and practice in EMS with Eric Chase who is a comedian, paramedic and educator.

Dan Griffiths, Chris Winger, Kimberlyn Tihen, Mark Selapack, Brent Osborne and Alex Pafford (Team Mustang from the Spring 2023 Ambulance Service Manager Course) join the podcast to discuss their research project, "Saving Our Medics: The Case for Early Intervention." The focus of their project was identifying mental health issues in providers before it becomes a crisis.

Advanced airway management in EMS systems around the country ranges from surgical airways to laryngoscopy, either video or direct, to the use of a supraglottic airway (SGA) device. As a “blind” airway device, the King Airway has largely replaced the Combitube as the civilian and military SGA of choice due to its design and ease of use. However, over the past decade, there have been many other SGAs, particularly iterations of the laryngeal mask airway (LMA), that have come to market. It is the wide and varied options for an SGA that have necessitated this evaluation as we hope to provide guidance to EMS agencies in choosing a device for their service.

Read the full article here.

Bram Duffee, PhD, EMT-P, discusses “call jumping” in rural EMS with Latimer Hoke, M.Ed, NR-AEMT, who is a first responder and educator.

Article discussed: Hoke, L. (2023, August 22). Not Truly Off-Duty: True ‘First’ Responders in Rural Areas. Journal of Emergency Medical Services. https://www.jems.com/operations/not-truly-off-duty-true-first-responders-in-rural-areas/

Connections: If you want to connect with the Latimer Hoke you can reach him at [email protected] and to connect with the show, reach out through www.ProfessorBram.com.

In this episode we talk with Devin Howell, DO, AEMT-CC, about his journey from EMT to EMS medical director.

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a chronic disease associated with significant morbidity and mortality, responsible for approximately 15,000 deaths per year in United States.

The deleterious cardiac effects associated with PH (e.g. Right Ventricular disease) render this population particularly susceptible to decompensation. Hypoxemia, acidosis and hypercapnia are not well tolerated in PH and will acutely increase pulmonary artery pressures, leading to hemodynamic collapse.

Read the full article here.

Eric Chase sits down with Oklahoma City Fire Department Lieutenant Danny Brown as he shares his story of failure and brokenness and how support from his wife, fire family and counseling helped him to realize it's ok to let go.

On this episode, Dr. Bryan Bledsoe joins the podcast to discuss a January article from JEMS, which he co-authored with Dr. Jeff Salomone, titled "Traumatic Cardiac Arrest (TCA): Maybe We Could Do Better?"

Additionally, we discuss his introduction to writing textbooks and his views on EMS education moving into the future.

Management of acute respiratory distress isn’t an exact science. Good patient outcomes rely on your ability to assess ventilation, oxygenation, work of breathing (WOB), lung function, airway resistance and air flow. The number of treatment choices is increasing, and they’re becoming more complex. Does your patient need medication, suctioning, airway management, ventilation, intubation, non-invasive ventilation or just close observation?

Some practices of the past served only to disguise deterioration. With everything available to today’s EMS provider, you need some pearls of wisdom for effectively assessing and successfully treating patients having difficulty breathing.

Read the full article here.

Not every patient experiencing a moderate level of hypoxemic respiratory failure does well on a high-flow nasal cannula. (Photo courtesy Hamilton Medical AG)When I first started as a hospital respiratory therapist, the nasal cannula was our go-to low-flow (LFNC) device, designed to deliver an FiO2 of approximately 24 to 44% at flows of 1 to 6 liters per minute. When patients needed more oxygen, we would typically consider a face mask using a humidified large volume nebulizer to deliver 35-50%. A tandem setup could deliver upward of 80-90%. When more oxygen was necessary, we had the NRB (non-rebreather) mask.

Read the full article here.