Here’s an awesome case submitted by Nathan Stanaway of Grady EMS in Atlanta, GA. The patient is a 53 year old female c/o chest discomfort and mild dyspnea. The pain is described as “severe” and she gives the pain a 10/10. Past medical history is significant for migraine headaches and anxiety. Patient is a poor […]

This is the discussion for the case study: 37 year old male CC: “Light-headedness” (posted earlier this week). Here’s the question asked by the paramedic who submitted the case. “The first 12 lead ECG shows Q-waves in the inferior leads. Perhaps this isn’t a surprise considering the patient’s history of MI. But what about the flipped […]

I received an excellent question this week from a reader who chooses to remain anonymous. Before we get to his question (and my answer) let’s take a look at the case that prompted the question. EMS is called to the residence of a 37 year old male c/o “light-headedness”. Upon EMS arrival the patient is […]

Thanks for checking out the new digs! Take a look around and let me know what you think. Trouble-shooting the hyperlinks and formatting of the archives will be ongoing for the next couple of weeks. Be sure to check out the new case study submitted by Christopher Linke!

Here's a very interesting and unusual case submitted by a long-time reader of the Prehospital 12-Lead ECG blog named Christopher Linke (aka SoCalMedic). I'll warn you up front that the patient insisted on being transported to a hospital without specialty services so we have no information about diagnostic testing that might confirm the diagnosis. EMS […]

I have gone to the dark side and joined the FireEMSBlogs.com family! The new blog goes “live” at 12:00 p.m. EST tomorrow, August 19, 2010. The new URL is ems12lead.com. Here’s a sneak peak. Special thanks to Chris Hebert (Go Forward Media) for helping me sort through the technical issues involved. Please update your bookmarks […]

I’ve been giving a lot of thought lately to paramedic education and the problem of 12-lead ECG interpretation. Specifically, the reasons why paramedics aren’t taught to actually read a 12-lead ECG and are instead given a crash course in “STEMI recognition” which does not prepare the student to differentiate between the ST-elevation of acute STEMI […]

Here’s another case from a faithful reader who wishes to remain anonymous. No, these are not all from the same anonymous reader! EMS responds to a 58 year old male complaining of chest discomfort. Onset: 30 min ago while mopping hot tar on roof Provoke: Nothing makes the pain better or worse Quality: Dull pressure […]

As some of you may know patient safety, crew resource management, human factors, and quality improvement are areas of interest for me. This is worth your time. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOJJHHm7lnM] [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpzb7nM6oFQ] [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BnXs4KtER8]

This is the discussion for 54 year old male CC: Chest pain. Once again we see the importance of serial ECGs in the treatment of a suspected ACS patient. The difference between the first and second 12-lead ECG is the key to solving this case. As you can see, the T-waves become more pronounced in leads […]