The JEMS Report

Guest: President Oren Barzilay

March 17, 2021, marks the 25th anniversary of the merger between FDNY and NY EMS. FDNY EMS Local 2507 President Oren Barzilay was an EMT at the time of this merger. President Oren joins the EMS Handoff crew on this special episode celebrating this momentous occasion discussing not only the history of this merger but where he says FDNY and EMS in the future.

AerosoLess Medical has recently released a revolutionary new face mask that allows medical personnel to again provide nebulized treatments, targeted directly into the patient’s lungs.  The SafetyNebTM Mask uses patent-pending technology to create a CPAP-like tight seal with the patient’s face and is also fitted with water-resistant viral filters over its vent holes. These features drastically reduce the ability of pathogens contained in patients’ exhaled breath and coughs to escape into the environment.

The SafetyNeb Mask was introduced to the market by Dr. Paul Louis, an emergency medicine physician.  In our new era, where we have a new awareness about aerosols, particularly in the confined space of an ambulance, the SafetyNeb Mask allows frontline workers to treat patients effectively with nebulized albuterol, atrovent and even TXA, without exposing themselves to patient pathogens. 

Read more about it in JEMS.

Infection control consultant Katherine West talks about Ebola. Why is she discussing it in 2021? Hasn’t it come and gone? Not exactly.

Guests: David and Kimberly Hughes

In this week’s episode of The EMS Handoff, the hosts take a week off and open up the chest of unreleased episodes from the days of the Tuesday EMS Tidbits Podcast. Back in the day, Eric, Bradley, and David were joined by David and Kimberly Hughes. They are the parents of Drew Hughes and the Founders of the Do It For Drew Foundation. They have a tremendous story about their son, and the events that precipitated the creation of the Do it For Drew Foundation. Their story has inspired many others, and their goal is to help EMS providers around the globe be better every day. 

Find more about their story at https://www.doitfordrew.org

Don’t forget to get your EMS Handoff Gear at www.pursueoutfitters.com/emshandoff

Project Mayday is happy to promote 809 Fight 4 Awareness that supports the mental wellness of our first responders in Southern California! Erik Hernandez shares his story on how he started with 809 Fight 4 Awareness and his own story for mental wellness as a first responder.

Ambulance Science Podcast: Philadelphia’s failure to fund EMS forces “meat wagon-tactics" by police, while surgeons ignore the real problem, say Scot Phelps and Maria Werner.

Key Points:

• Philadelphia Fire EMS is severely underfunded, with a unit-hour utilization of 1.0, meaning they're busy 100% of the time, leading to a delayed response time

There has been a lot of buzz about the drug TXA (tranexamic acid), an inexpensive medication that has few negative side effects and has shown some success in reducing mortality in a segment of trauma patients.

But the key word is “effect.” Is TXA effective and is it being shown as having an effective benefit for prehospital trauma patients?

Join JEMS Editor Emeritus A.J. Heightman and the principals of the International Prehospital Medicine Institute (IPHMI): Will Chapleau, EMT-P, RN, TNS; Greg Chapman, B.S., R.R.T., REMT-P; Michael J. Hunter, EMT-P, TP-C; Peter T. Pons, M.D., F.A.C.E.P.; and Lance Stuke, M.D., F.A.C.S, as they discuss TXA, its indications and a whole host of relevant research such as the large CRASH-2 trials, the Military (MATTERS) study; the civilian prehospital and hospital “STAAMP” study and the CRASH-3 Traumatic Brain injury study.

The content and discussion will help you understand what the research is showing and whether TXA has a future in the field of prehospital medicine.

Guests: Tyler Christifulli

How is it possible for metabolic acidosis and anion gap to be remotely interesting? The two words send shivers down most medics’ spine. However, Tyler Christifulli from FoamFrat joins the EMS Handoff crew to make this information not only accessible but fun to learn and review. 

Tyler Christifulli is a flight medic and  co-founder/producer at FOAMfrat where he lends his expertise to educating EMS providers through blogs, podcasts and online content.

Guests: Dr. Mark Cicero, Dr. Clare Wallner

Which has a longer attention span? A goldfish or an average adult? 

Mark X. Cicero, MD, FAAP, is an associate professor of pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) at the Yale School of Medicine, the director of the pediatric disaster preparedness program, an EMS physician and an attending physician at Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital. Mark has designed experiential and didactic curricula in pediatric disaster medicine, and has numerous publications about triage and prehospital response.  He is a member of the National Biodefense Science Board and the principal investigator for the Pediatric Research In Disaster Education (PRIDE) network, which has received funding from HRSA and the AHRQ.

Clare Wallner is an assistant professor and clinician educator at McMaster University and associate medical director for the Centre for Paramedic Education and Research in Hamilton, Ontario. She works as an EMS and emergency medicine physician. In addition to innovative curriculum design and medical leadership, she dabbles in research and advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion in medical education.

Show Highlights

• Gamification education and pandemics

On this episode of Another Dose, Dr. Candice McDonald and Robin Goldinger, RN, are joined by Fire Chief/Attorney Chip Comstock and Paramedic/Attorney Matthew Streger to discuss the violent side of EMS.