The Dreaded Vital Signs Chart

STOP.

THIS IS A GIMMICK.

Before reading this post, please understand my motives.

Regurgitation fails to provide optimal patient care.

The Classical Model of EMS Education, or The Danger of Eating Our Young

THE CLASSICAL MODEL OF EDUCATION

According to the classical model of education, every learner passes through three stages: grammar, dialectic, and rhetorical.

The Dangers of 50 Shades

The EMS/Fire/Public Safety field is one of the most crass environments out there. Off-color jokes, explicit conversations, and oversexualized allusions are common place.

On Writing

Words are the means of expressing concepts and feelings, world-changing ideals and small details.

With words, I can convey information, persuade opinions, or paint not merely a picture, but a vivid experience in another human's mind.

A Woman's Guide to Mens Duty Boots

WOMEN’S FEET IN MENS SHOES

It's 2015, and one would think a woman could walk into any uniform store and buy a pair of womens duty boots. Yet often, due to lack of options in women's lines, lack of stock, or budgetary dictations, women must make due with mens boots.

A Writer's Growth

There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.

Ernest Hemingway

When I first began my writing journey and had a decent-sized manuscript, I shared my 'baby' with another writer.

The Difficulty of Revision

One of the most difficult parts of revision is putting my mind back into the place it was when I wrote the book.

Frustration

I love prehospital care. Emergency, NET, wilderness, critical, community, flight, ground, I love it all. I live and breathe it and always have. But some nights I just want to quit. It's not the patients, scenes, or calls. It's not nightmares or PTSD. It's not yet another drunk or threat or 911-for-a-stubbed-toe.

EMS and Autism: Empathy Basics

For the posts in this series, I will be painting with a broad brush. Psychological issues are rarely black and white; most are unbelievably complicated. Teams of psychologists take years—decades, at times—to sort through someone's brain. To cover a subject as convoluted as autism in short blog posts gives me pause, but I think it necessary to at least start the discussion.

What Christmas Means to Me

I grew up with Christmas. Christmas, to me, was a time to celebrate the birth of the Messiah, peace on earth, and goodwill to others. It was a time to enjoy our family. Presents were a part of that. Though Santa was known to visit in all his naughty-or-nice glory, we each knew that his gifts and those from others were not a reward for good behavior. They were the outward expression of our love for and appreciation of one another. We were a family, and that would never change.

Years passed, and I chose to worship differently from my parents. I light my chanukiah; they run the train around a little tree.

The Paramedic Paradigm

It’s a question few in EMS have avoided asking:

Should an EMT gain experience on the street or go straight to paramedic school?

Must We Reinvent the Wheel?

While I realize that emergency responders have existed throughout history (Tell Me the Old Stories), I acknowledge that EMS as a formal profession is relatively new. The field is experiencing growing pains—some would even say it’s in crisis. In this new world of capnography, clotting agents, and community paramedics, we are confronted with new challenges and problems.

Tell Me the Old Stories

In response to High Performance EMS' Post: We Need Some New Stories.
I’m a little weary of hearing that EMS is a new discipline. Of course, no one can deny the impact of WW1, and it’s true that the White Paper is still less than 50 years old.

Where are all the books?

Code Green Campaign had a great post on Facebook yesterday: ‘Do you know of any books relating to PTSD and first responders? I haven't found any.’

Burger Flippers Vs. Ambulance Drivers

There has been quite an uproar over the move to pay fast-food workers $15/hour. Many EMS personnel look at their own meager pay rates and cry foul. Then memes like this begin to circle the internet.

Domestic Forces

Yesterday, I read an article that referred to 'Veterans, Military, and Domestic Forces (Police, Firefighters, EMS, etc.).'

....'Domestic Forces'?

A Culture of Cool

I have worked with several services in different states. I’ve worked with cruddy medics and with some of the very best.