Mike McEvoy's Blog Posts Tagged 'fireEMS' (8)

It is dangerous out there, no doubt about it. We have a responsibility to protect ourselves, our brothers and sisters and our patients from harm. The latest danger seems to me not to be carfentanil but paranoia. That's right, I'll call it "fentanyl analog paranoia."  It's bad enough that widespread misinformation has made prehospital providers the poster children for misuse of nitrile gloves.  Now, we're helping to spread ridiculous warnings about…

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The mother of a 13-year-old girl gave me a wake-up call several weeks ago.  After her daughter overdosed on heroin, her husband rushed home from work following a panic-stricken call.  On the way, he passed an ambulance idling on a roadway several blocks from their home.  That same ambulance later arrived to provide care but only after law enforcement appeared on scene.  I knew exactly what the ambulance was doing--staging until the scene was safe.  Trying to explain this protocol to the…

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E.V.E.N.T. or the EMS Voluntary Event Notification Tool is a reporting web site launched in 2012.  Backed by a long list of prestigious supporters, EVENT was designed to accept anonymous reports of EMS safety concerns in an effort to improve safety across the EMS spectrum.  The concept was similar to an airline safety system that accepted "near miss" reports from…

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FDNY is the largest fire department in the United States and is a trendsetter.  A recent report by the Citizens Budget Commission, a New York City watchdog organization puts some very interesting handwriting on the FDNY wall.  The report, "Twenty Years Later: Integrating Services In The New York City Fire Department" reflects growing call volumes, steadily declining fires and ever…

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Which is better: letting pain and muscle spasm immobilize an injured spine or doing it with the same tools we’ve used for decades?  Should hypothermia begin DURING the arrest?  Do response times make any difference whatsoever in patient outcomes?  The answers to these and other hot EMS topics were intensely debated in Dallas last week at the 14^th annual Gathering of Eagles, EMS State of the Science Conference.

The U.S. Metropolitan Municipalities EMS Medical Directors…

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At the January 26, 2011 meeting of the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) Medical Device Advisory Committee, Circulatory Systems Devices Panel, a recommendation emerged to tighten regulation of AEDs (Automatic External Defibrillators).  Currently, AEDs are listed as Class III (high risk) medical devices being…

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Bed Bug media hype has spurned considerable action in the travel industry, hospitals, prisons, homes and (of course) fire stations. These pesky little critters have developed resistance to many pesticides (which may account for the recent increase in infestations), are particularly good a hiding, but remain visible to the naked eye. That's right; you can see them! What you might not see so clearly are the unscrupulous profiteers hoping to drain your wallet with ridiculously expensive equipment… Continue

National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Technical Committee on Ambulances balloting this week failed by one vote to move a draft “NFPA 1917, Standard for Automotive Ambulances” forward into the review and public comment process that would have rolled an ambulance design standard out the door during mid-2012.



At issue was inclusion of several AMD (Automobile Manufacturers Division of the National Truck Equipment Association) testing standards incorporated into the draft document… Continue