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EMS assessment and treatment of asthma: 5 things to know
By Bob Sullivan Asthma is a chronic disease that affects 24 million people in the United States and causes 5,000 to 6,000 deaths each year [1,2]. Prompt recognition and treatment of asthma, a leading...
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Use capnography as a primary assessment tool for asthma and COPD exacerbation
By Kelly Grayson Obstructive airway disease is a constellation of chronic respiratory illnesses characterized by obstructed airflow through the terminal bronchioles and alveoli, either due to...
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Sepsis detection and monitoring in EMS
For EMS providers to truly understand sepsis, they must also understand the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) cascade. SIRS, as a term to describe the complex physiological response to...
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Ventilating difficult airways in the field
EMS providers perform a myriad of functions while attending to patients in the field. Perhaps the most critical and intensive set of tasks are identifying and managing the airway of a patient who is...
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5 things EMS providers need to know about opioid overdose and respiratory...
By Bob Sullivan Timely recognition, airway management, administration of naloxone (Narcan), and continuous assessment of oxygenation and ventilation can be lifesaving for patients who overdose on...
View ArticleShould medics intubate out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients?
By Christopher T. Boyer The American Heart Association 2015 guidelines for CPR and Emergency Cardiac Care are somewhat inconclusive about advanced airway management for patients in cardiac arrest. The...
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8 questions for critical respiratory compromise patients
By Bob Sullivan Patients in severe respiratory distress or respiratory compromise are often unable to speak more than one or two words at a time, and attempting to do so makes their distress even...
View ArticleRemain calm: Assessing and treating panic attacks
Some patient encounters are keepers; other experiences need to be forgotten. Overcoming past calls is one of those skills that nobody teaches you in EMT school. Exorcising the demons that build as the...
View ArticlePatient with ExD syndrome before and after ketamine administration
Read the full patient case and learn more about ExD syndrome.
View ArticlePatient with ExD syndrome before and after versed administration
Read the full patient case and learn more about ExD syndrome.
View ArticlePatient with ExD syndrome
Read the full patient case and learn more about ExD syndrome.
View ArticleTips for assessing sudden shortness of breath
Assessment of respiratory patients, like most medical patients, involves an understanding of the anatomy and physiology which functions behind the scenes and how changes in those processes affect...
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'Do it for Drew' by checking and rechecking tube placement
By Bradley Dean and David Hughes Drew Hughes, 13, died unexpectedly and tragically a few hours after sustaining a head injury while skateboarding. On June 29, 2013 a young life ended. Drew was full of...
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Research analysis: Capnography to assess effectiveness of pediatric ventilation
By Greg Friese, EMS1 Editor-in-Chief Capnographs from pediatric patients undergoing elective surgery were analyzed to assess the effectiveness of ventilation. The objective of the research, reported...
View ArticleTake charge of the airway with tunnel vision focus
Airway management: It's not easy. Catastrophic clinical failures, such as the one described in this article about Drew Hughes, serve as somber reminders about how challenging airway management truly...
View ArticleReality Training: Assessment and management of excited delirium
By Christopher Kroboth Excited delirum patients pose a huge safety risk to themselves and the public safety crews responding to their emergency. Excited Delirium Syndrome is defined as "a syndrome of...
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Capnography best practices to improve patient handoff reports
By Kelly Grayson Waveform capnography is an example of EMS as an early adopter of emerging technology. Often, in the hospital, recognition of the value of capnography has not spread beyond the...
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Direct laryngoscopy is dead
By Will Dunn In the prehospital environment, it is time to pronounce direct laryngoscopy dead. And video killed it. We knew direct laryngoscopy, commonly referred to as DL, was sick a decade ago when...
View ArticleInside EMS Podcast: Does EMS rely too heavily on diagnostic tools?
Download this podcast on iTunes, SoundCloud or via RSS feed In this Inside EMS Podcast episode, co-hosts Chris Cebollero and Kelly Grayson discuss the many new diagnostic tools EMS providers are...
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