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Hey fella,hope you are enjoying the SMACC come down!
Now – where I live and work, many (all) of the ambos are volunteer crews
I wondered if there was a good source of podcasts for this cadre – nothing too technical, but just good,honest ambo podcasting – anecdotes, stories, non-technical human factors stuff…?
Ulterior motive here – whilst I am getting into the FOAMed stuff, my spouse is just starting off as a volunteer ambo…I wanna load her iPod mini up with as much ambo-reelvant FOAMed goodness as I can…mindful of the fact she is non medical and lugging her onto Weingart might blow a gasket this early in the game
Suggestions? Podcasts great cos can listen whilst walking on beach or cycling or jogging
G’day Tim.
To be honest I have never listened to many EMS specific podcasts, having got hooked on Life in the Fastlane far too young, which we all know is a gateway to Weingart, SMARTEM and so on. Now my life is in tatters, and I’m jonesing for SMACC. Fortunately Levitan is coming, so I may be able to sell a kidney and get up to Sydney again….
Anyway.
There are a reasonable number of EMS blogs and podcasts around. There is a list at http://www.chiefsupply.com/resources/podcasts/ems.aspx of various podcasts. On iTunes there is the MediCast podcasts (https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/mediccast-audio-podcast-for/id165682697) which has quite an extensive list of topics. Jeff Guy does (did?) a pharmacology series for EMS at https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/ems-pharmacology-for-prehospital/id290936644 I can’t vouch for the content or quality of these myself unfortunately so you may want to have a listen first to see if they fit the bill.
One thing to bear in mind is that these are all from an American perspective so they may not be able to be generalised to Australian practice. That said, perhaps at a volunteer level they may be ok given the differences in education/standards that prevail between US and Australian EMS. (Note to any US readers: please don’t be offended, I am well aware that there are some very high performing services, I’m making sweeping generalisations here)
I’m not sure about any human factors stuff. In my experience this (and communication) are two of the most neglected (yet most important) aspects of ambulance education. Ambos are trained almost entirely as proceduralists with little time given to communication or human factors.
I started out life as a volunteer ambo so maybe I should pull my finger out and learn how to podcast… Care to collaborate on something?
I’ll keep trying to make this blog relevant to all levels of ambo, so send your wife over here for a look too. Let me know if there is anything else I can do to help out.
Robbie
Rob, keen to podcast with u on this issue. Do u have access to skype and broadband? Then just need to tee up a time..
Hi Robbie,
Jeff Guy’s Pharm for EMS podcasts were OK, particularly for BLS providers, but as you mentioned, it is directed at US crews so some names and dosings vary from those used here and can be a bit confusing if you work for a service with dosing protocols that don’t quite match the dosing regimes mentioned in the podcasts.
I found Jeff’s podcast “ICU Rounds” on iTunes a good resource for the paramedic chasing a more in-depth look at some topics – examines some more in-depth theory such as sepsis, ventilators, blast injuries etc etc – 46 episodes all up, of circa 20-30mins each. Obviously, if you can pull apart the LITFL review via email each fortnight there is a multitude of EMS-relevant pod/vidcasts and blogs etc.
B.
Hi Rob,
Firstly may I thank you for such an interesting and educational thread on all things EMS. It has really assisted myself and many other paramedics to consolidate our knowledge and fill the gaps between Clinical Guidelines and textbooks.
I’d like to ask your opinion on the ‘PAY-OFF Principle” – a term which I have come to dread in Ambulance circles. Pay-off suggests that we must treat all presentations as cardiac unless proven otherwise. As a result of this I feel that we are treating every second patient with Aspirin and GTN due to our lack of diagnostic tools and due to our fear of clinical review…
To be quite honest, I think that the ‘PAY-OFF Principle’ has somewhat diminished my enthusiasm for differential diagnosis and objective assessment because I am already resigned to the fact that this patient will cop an Aspirin and GTN before they can say; “Anxiety…”
I am aware that as paramedics, with limited resources it is very difficult to rule out cardiac chest pain, but where do you draw the line? What things do you find in your assessment that lead you off the scent of cardiac chest pain? Are there any useful constituents that should form part of my clinical questioning in order to better pre-diagnose cardiac chest pain?
Thanks in advance Rob!!
Love your work mate,
Regards
Ben.
Hey Ben.
Thanks for your kind comments, it is great to know that the blog is of use to someone other than me!
You have asked an excellent question that I think deserves a reasonable bit of thought before answering, so I will get onto that. Keep an eye out on the main forum for a post, hopefully sooner rather than later.
Hi,
Curious to know your opinion on mental health and how it is dealt with by paramedics. Also just wondering if you have anything on paediatrics.
By the way love your work.
Regards, Kayla.
Robbie
Hi from the UK. Delighted to find your site, would love to contribute, am new to FOAMed goodness but loving it. Have over ten years on the road and been teaching for the last five, with special interests in paeds and obstetrics. Maybe we could put something together for Kayla on paeds?
Cheers
Rusty
Hi, just wanted to let you know that this site is still popular in 2019. I’ve only just found it and I absolutely love reading through all the content.
Not a paramedic (yet), just someone who’s super interested!
Thanks!