Emergency Ethics: Morality, Law and Conflict in EMS
There is no time during a medical emergency to debate the ethical dilemmas that confront us daily in the field. It is essential that each EMT and Paramedic develop a personal ethical algorithm that is practical and applicable to any situation. Otherwise, we will inevitably make mistakes that can be life or career ending. Ethics in EMS is neither abstract nor frivolous. We make ethical decisions on virtually every call, and they are often as or more important than the purely medical decisions we make. This practical, scenario based, problem-solving program will examine the daily ethical and legal dilemmas that confront us in EMS: Do I resuscitate? Transport? ALS or BLS? Report my partner? Document my error? Tell the doctor? Violate the protocol? From conflicts with supervisors and coworkers, to life-and-death treatment decisions, we will ask the questions that need to be asked, and examine practical ways to answer those questions that are in the best interest of our patients, our colleagues and ourselves.
Textbook or Field Guide: Learning to Love Your Protocols
Prehospital treatment protocols are the Holy Writ of EMS, yet they range in size from handy-dandy field guides to multi-volume tomes, from the barest outlines to comprehensive textbooks in emergency medicine. In this interactive presentation, Guy Haskell will discuss a practical and efficient way to develop and maintain these important guidelines utilizing eight principles developed to produce protocols that are dynamic, practical, useful, informative, and adaptable to a wide variety of services and providers. Rather than viewing protocols as a dull, necessary evil, we will look at ways in which protocol development and continuous improvement process can actually energize and stimulate your system and your providers. Creatively involving your staff in the development of protocols and remove them as a topic of controversy, instead creating a focus of cooperation. Most EMS providers hate their protocols. Learn how to make them love them instead.
Fatal Fevers: Recognizing and Treating Pediatric Sepsis
It has been estimated that no more than 10% of EMS calls involve children, and of those 10%, only 10% are true life-threatening emergencies. Sepsis in children is one of those serious emergencies where your recognition of the problem and treatment of the symptoms can mean life or death for that child. This presentation will walk you through an EMS call that went wrong, introduce you to the epidemiology of sepsis in children, and concentrate on assessment techniques you can use in the field to recognize this condition. You will also learn when an antibiotic should be considered an emergency drug, and be introduced to a model protocol for prehospital sepsis that includes the use of antibiotics in the field.
CPAP Hits the Streets
Among the most frustrating medical cases to confront emergency providers is the drowning pulmonary edema patient, desperate for air yet too alert to intubate. Until now we had to assist with a BVM, sedate and intubate, or wait for unconsciousness. Now we have an option: Continuous Positive Airway Pressure. CPAP is among the most dramatic and practical additions to the prehospital arsenal in the fight against congestive heart failure and pulmonary edema to come along in the past thirty years. In a recent study of CPAP in the field, its use avoided 8 out of 10 intubations and reduced ICU admissions by 50%. CPAP is to CHF what D50 is to Insulin Shock or Narcan is to Heroin OD. In this presentation we will review the pathophysiology of CHF, and discuss the equipment, use, and protocols for CPAP in the field.
Prehospital Airway Devices
From the commonplace to the bizarre, from the ancient to cutting edge, this presentation will examine the history, development, variety and uses of airway devices used in the prehospital setting. Whether developed specifically for field use, or adapted from the hospital, the search for the perfect airway device has been the Holy Grail of EMS equipment researchers and manufacturers for over a century. With rare vintage photographs and humor this presentation will take you from the COPA to the Pulmonary Resuscitator, from the “breaking the patient” to transtracheal jet insufflation. See article in emedicine.
Real Lawsuits in EMS
As EMS providers we have read the medical-legal chapters in our textbooks since our first EMT class and slept through countless continuing education lectures on how to protect ourselves from lawsuits and write good run reports. Often it is not until we are served with our first subpoena that we wish we had listened more carefully. As an experienced expert in EMS law, Dr. Haskell will describe several recent cases he has been involved in, from dispatch of the call to disposition of the case, and walk you through the pitfalls and passions of real lawsuits. He will discuss practical tips on how to avoid ever being considered a lawyer’s target.
The Management Pain Scale: Strategies for Coping with Confrontation in Emergency Services
Conflict is a part of human nature. It can neither be avoided nor eliminated. As such, conflict in the firehouse is as much a part of daily life as checking equipment or eating meals. Whether major or minor, personal or professional, the ways in which conflicts are handled can make or break a shift, and make or break a supervisor. This interactive, dynamic workshop will bring out what you already know about resolving, channeling, or confronting conflict, and help develop concrete, usable strategies for turning conflict into a tool for strengthening your unit or department. See article in Journal of Emergency Medical Services.
Chest Trauma
Facts:
Chest trauma is the cause 1 of 4 American trauma deaths
Chest Trauma contributes to another 1 of 4
Many chest trauma patients die after reaching hospital - could be prevented if recognized
<10% of blunt chest trauma needs surgery
1/3 of penetrating trauma patients need surgery
Most life-saving procedures do NOT require a thoracic surgeon
Using case scenarios illustrated with photographs and x-rays, this presentation reviews the critical issues involved in chest trauma, and presents practical tools for recognizing and treating specific injuries resulting from trauma to the chest. Fast paced and informative, this presentation will be of value to all levels of emergency care professionals, from EMTs to physicians.
