EMS Basics

There’s a secret behind this job. You go to work. You run the calls: the boring, the exciting, the obnoxious, the weird. Occasionally, the terrible. You see, you do, you move on. Like everythin...

https://emsbasics.com/2016/04/18/talking-green/

  Close to a year ago, we attempted something nutty: for one day, we sat down, put away our pet beliefs, stepped off our soapboxes, and explored the merits of the “other side.” Why? Aren’...

https://emsbasics.com/2016/03/01/the-second-great-ems-what-if-were-wrong-a-thon/

  Now that our review for Academic Emergency Medicine has been published, I wanted to devote a few words to a discussion that didn’t make it into the article. We spent a lot of time trying ...

https://emsbasics.com/2015/10/12/life-without-the-boogeyman-alternate-models-of-emergency-spinal-care/

There’s a story we’ve all been told. It goes like this: A person suffers a traumatic injury, usually a minor one, like bumping their head or crunching their fender in traffic. Afterwards, the...

https://emsbasics.com/2015/09/24/a-saga-of-spurious-spines/

The short story is this: within the next few weeks, this site will be moving to the First Arriving blogger network. Hopefully, this process will be relatively seamless and invisible, and you...

https://emsbasics.com/2015/08/02/new-digs-and-old-friends/

  The EMS world is full of people with opinions. This is a contentious business, and most days, it’s hard to kick a rock without hitting two paramedics having an argument. Usually, if you list...

https://emsbasics.com/2015/06/01/the-first-ems-what-if-were-wrong-a-thon/

The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco has numerous claims to fame. Once the longest suspension bridge in the world, and still probably the most iconic, it’s a central feature of the SF Bay Ar...

https://emsbasics.com/2015/03/18/those-who-save-lives-kevin-briggs/

  The Internet is a wonderful educational resource. I hope this doesn’t come as a surprise to anybody, but it’s good to be reminded. As little as 20 years ago, it simply wasn’t possible to...

https://emsbasics.com/2015/02/28/either-lead-learn-or-please-stop-talking/

I’m tired of all the mumbo-jumbo. Here’s my beef. Every medical provider, particularly those who work in the acute setting (such as prehospital medicine, critical care, or the emergency depar...

https://emsbasics.com/2014/08/16/what-the-heck-is-a-general-impression/

Although we like to talk around here about exciting topics like shock and airway management, the reality is that for many EMS providers — particularly at the BLS level — a large part of this...

https://emsbasics.com/2014/08/07/the-long-term-care-ombudsman-advocates-on-call/