Image credit: Billie Ward – Creative Commons I originally posted this on my personal Facebook page but there appears to be a lot of interest so I decided to post it here also. The Staten Island Advance newspaper reported on May 22, 2015: Two FDNY paramedics are accused of lying about administering aid to a dying […]

Here is a description of Hilton Head Island Fire Rescue’s Pit Crew / High Performance CPR process in bullet point form. It may help to think of it as a 4-phase process. Phase 1: Patient’s side to first shock Confirm pulselessness and announce “at patient, code blue” Start CPR (continuous chest compressions at the appropriate […]

  Back in October, I was fortunate to attend the Resuscitation Academy in Seattle, WA. As many of you already know, the Academy is run by Seattle Medic One and King County EMS, with the goal of improving survival from out of hospital cardiac arrest. EMS directors, managers and medical directors convened for a three […]

Congratulations are in order for Dr. Michel LeMay of the Universtiy of Ottawa Heart Institute. He was recently one of eight Canadians recognized with an award from the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) and the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) for “developing a new way to handle heart attacks that empowers paramedics to read […]

The ACC/AHA 2008 Statement on Performance Measurement and Reperfusion Therapy was published on 11/10/08. Here are some highlights (from the prehospital perspective) with comments: “Acute reperfusion therapy, either with fibrinolytic therapy or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), is one of the most important treatments for patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI)…The timeliness of reperfusion therapy […]

The AHA Scientific Statement Implementation and Integration of Prehospital ECGs Into Systems of Care for Acute Coronary Syndrome was published online ahead of print on August 13, 2008. The ACC’s Cardiosource posted a good summary of the document on August 21, 2008 that included these 10 talking points: Prehospital electrocardiograms (ECGs) in patients with ST-elevation myocardial […]

It’s a little bit dated now, but the July 2006 Prehospital 12 Lead ECG Supplement in JEMS magazine makes some interesting points. 10 Reasons to Perform a Prehospital ECG Does not significantly delay transport. Takes only one or two minutes to perform. Quality is increasingly high. Allows early diagnosis of AMI. Can be used to […]

*** Kept for historical purposes only *** In case you missed it, there’s an outstanding webinar available at the D2B Alliance website that discusses Prehospital ECG Activation of the Cardiac Cath Lab. It’s hosted by Dr. Ivan Rokos, Dr. Christopher Granger, Dr. Robert O’Connor, and Dr. William French. The webinar discusses Regional STEMI networks in […]