Reader Steve Carroll passed along this recent case report from the Annals of Emergency Medicine. It’s behind a paywall, so let’s summarize. What happened A young adult male was shot three ...
Man’s leaning against a wall. He doesn’t move for hours. Just stands there not moving. Finally, someone says, “You been here all day — don’t you have anything to do?” “I’m doin...
https://emsbasics.com/2013/01/09/staying-in-place-compensation-and-endpoints/
The final part of a series on oximetry: start with Respiration and Hemoglobin and Pulse Oximetry: Basics Pulse oximetry is not always available in EMS — depending on level of care, scope of pr...
https://emsbasics.com/2011/08/07/pulse-oximetry-application/
Just tuning in? Start with Respiration and Hemoglobin, or continue to Pulse Oximetry: Application Once upon a time, the only way to measure SaO2 was to draw a sample of arterial blood and send it...
We’re taking a short break from our series on transfers to discuss a recent post on the EMT-Medical Student blog. One of the issues he brought up is the old saw, “Treat the patient, not the m...
Orthostatic vital signs. Nurses think they’re a pain in the neck. Some doctors think they’re of marginal usefulness. Many providers simply think they’re a dying breed. Like many old-school ...
https://emsbasics.com/2011/05/08/get-up-stand-up-orthostatics/
One two three — five six seven What’s the missing number? If you said four, congratulations. You have a basic human ability to recognize patterns — one of the best tools we have to separate...
See also what Jugular Venous Distention, Seizures, and Cardiac Arrest and CPR look like Education and experience are both important to making a well-rounded provider, and each of the two have d...
https://emsbasics.com/2011/04/21/what-it-looks-like-agonal-respirations/
For other Vital Signs posts, see: Respirations and Pulse In the grand scheme of medical skills, taking a manual blood pressure is far from difficult, but sick people and austere conditions can co...
https://emsbasics.com/2011/03/20/vital-signs-blood-pressure/
For other Vital Signs posts, see: Respirations and Blood Pressure Ah, the almighty pulse. If I have a favorite vital sign, this is it; let me lay hands on a patient and take a pulse and my assess...