Friday March 22 8:00am to 9:30am
EMS Saved Me: Now What?
Robert Hoadley } Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation
1.0 Other Con-Ed
On April 1, 2011, I suffered a sudden cardiac arrest at work. I was 41-years-old and was training to join the U.S. Navy Reserves and in possibly the best physical condition of the last 20 years when, without warning, my heart stopped. I collapsed. I remained unresponsive for over six minutes.... no movement, no breathing, no pulse.
Due to the number of times my heart had stopped (five total that day) and the amount of time I was not breathing, one of the physicians asked my wife to say "Goodbye." As my wife entered the room, my wife broke down, but like something out of a Lifetime special, beep...beep...my heart started to beat!
I'm the survivor of multiple Sudden Cardiac Arrests (5x in 2011, 2x in 2018, and 16 ICD shocks in 2021...23 Total!).
Join me as I tell you my story and share with you a message of resilience, strength, vulnerability, and yes...survival.
The agitated or intoxicated patient is a frequent encounter for prehospital providers. While sometimes these encounters require chemical sedation, the first line management of these patients is often verbal de-escalation. This presentation will review various de-escalation techniques and practices along with methods to ensure provider and patient safety. This session is appropriate for all EMS levels.
My daughter will be upset if you put her in that Pedi-mate, can't I just hold her? Now that is a question we hear frequently when transporting pediatrics. Also, have you actually every used a pedimate? In this class we will cover that and the other challenges of pediatric transport. This session is appropriate for all EMS levels.
SVT is the most common pediatric dysrhythmia that we see in the ED after sinus tachycardia. But sometimes, in very young children and infants, it can be hard to distinguish the two. This lecture aims to teach EMS providers how to recognize signs of SVT and management strategies, both for unstable and stable SVT. This session is appropriate for all EMS levels.
Don't get distracted by the injuries! As we know, some injuries can look much worse than they are. In this lecture, we will learn how to recognize the life threats and how to quickly manage them. Applying a tourniquet hurts, but it's more important to control the bleeding. This session is appropriate for all EMS levels.
Using personal reflections and anecdotes from over 50 years of first-hand experience working in the prehospital profession this program will share insights on diversity, professionalism, empathy, belonging and what is important providing for those who come into our care. This session is appropriate for all EMS levels.
Burn patients are a unique group of patients for the pre hospital care provide - no two are ever alike. This lecture will discuss the burn patients who needs to go directly to a burn center and their management of the airway, breathing and circulation. This session is appropriate for all EMS levels.
There’s more to a neuro exam than asking the patient who they are, where they are, what happened to them, and who the President is. This presentation will review some of the finer points of assessing for neuro system injuries and illness, and explain the autonomic nervous system, cranial nerves, and some of the other strange signs and symptoms we may come across and what they mean - all in a way so simple that even your grandmother could understand. This session is appropriate for all EMS levels.
When you hear dispatch say “pregnant" woman over the radio, do you start to have palpitations and become diaphoretic? No worries! We will explore a comprehensive review of OB & GYN emergencies from the physiology of pregnancy, out-of-hospital delivery, special maneuvers, life threatening emergencies for newborn and mother, and special considerations with trauma and cardiac arrests. This session is appropriate for all EMS levels.
We will discuss the process behind updating the Commonwealth's EMS protocols, reviewing the many data sources that contribute to the protocols, how the input of EMS providers like you, evidence from the latest research, educational standards and system and logistical factors all factor into the finished product you will be implementing into practice. Additionally, we will touch on the National EMS Clinical Guidelines, EMS COMPACT and National EMS Scope of Practice Model and how they translate into the protocols you will be practicing within. This session is appropriate for all EMS levels.
Many infants get sick during that first year of life - when should we as providers worry? Worried parents are stressful, and sick infants are even more stressful! Let’s break down when to worry, why we worry, and what to do next! This session is appropriate for all EMS levels.
Are they vomiting from the alcohol or is it the TBI? Differentiating between a possible life-threatening head injury and the confusion from alcohol is important. In this lecture we will cover those signs and symptoms and many others involving both the head and spine. This session is appropriate for all EMS levels.
An airway is not an airway. They varies from person to person. Most importantly they vary greatly based off of age. In this lecture we will review one of the most difficult airways to manage. That of the pediatric patient. We will review ways to create better success when managing an airway in a pediatric patient.This session is appropriate for all EMS levels.
With increasing number of home deliveries around the United States, being able to identify and manage distress in a newborn is an essential EMS skill. This session will aim to teach attendees how to evaluate a newborn and recognize signs of distress and perform basic neonatal resuscitation. This session is appropriate for all EMS levels.
This session will review key principles of trauma airway management and ventilation. Case-based examples including videos of real airway management will enhance review of these key principles. This session is appropriate for all EMS levels.
Scrolling through Reddit, Facebook, or Twitter on down time during a shift is a great way to decompress from our otherwise stressful jobs, but we can also find important learning points beneath the surface of humorous content. This session will select several EMS or medically related memes found online then review evidence-based practice and protocols that support (or maybe refute) the punchline. This session is appropriate for all EMS provider levels. This session is appropriate for all EMS levels.
Steven-Johnson syndrome (SJS), toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN), and drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS) are life-threatening dermatologic conditions hallmarked by extensive exanthematous eruption, epidermal necrolysis, and peripheral lymphadenopathy. These conditions pose significant diagnostic and clinical challenges and have limited therapeutic options. While the inpatient management of these reactions is well documented in the literature, there is a gap in knowledge and guidance in the prehospital domain. We present the case of a medically complex, 58-year-old woman suffering from a severe, drug hypersensitivity reaction comorbid with rapidly progressive amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Key tenets of management include early recognition, prompt cessation of the offending agent, and initiation of supportive care measures. Prehospital providers should be vigilant in gathering detailed patient history, conducting a thorough physical examination, and considering early and aggressive interventions to optimize patient outcomes. This case underscores the challenges faced by prehospital providers in managing such complex scenarios and highlights the need for improved knowledge and guidance in the prehospital domain. This session is appropriate for all EMS levels.
In the early years, the accepted educational model was to teach prehospital care providers just what they needed to know. We created cookbook medics that could perform a series of tasks but had no background as to why they were doing something. So training consisted of "blow up the MAST trousers until the Velcro crackles, do 5:2 compressions:breaths, and place hypotensive patients in the Trendelenburg position (head down)." All of these recommendations would eventually be retracted leaving many providers saying (or thinking) "first you tell us to do something and then you tell us not to do something." So for all of you that attended one of my anaphylaxis lectures and are still giving 50mg of benadryl and steroids to patients with anaphylaxis, let's rethink that and a few other things that I taught you.
Young athletes today are pushing themselves harder and harder to be the best. Not knowing when to stop during physical activity can lead to exertional illness and injury. This session aims to cover the most common injuries and illnesses related to environmental exposure, overuse, and acute on chronic exacerbation of disease. Specific topics to be covered include heat exhaustion, cold exposure, dehydration, sickle cell, diabetes, asthma, and orthopedic injury. It will also account for the role EMS providers play in identifying and treating these athletes as the above listed situations occur. This session will have multiple case presentations and real life examples of ill and injured athletes, and there will be participation from attendees in regards to diagnosis and treatment of these patients. After attending this session, EMS providers will be better equipped to prepare for and cover sporting events, identify risk factors in athletes, and initiate treatment of exertion related illness and injury.
Rollovers are a frequent cause of vehicle damage, serious injury and fatalities in emergency vehicle collisions. These incidents are highly preventable. While “water slosh” in fire apparatus is known to be particularly vulnerable to rollover incidents, EMS vehicles are not immune to these risks. The high center of gravity and dynamic loads in the patient compartment must be understood by the EMS vehicle operator. This seminar will analyze case studies and provide best practices aimed at preventing rollover incidents.
Come learn about strategies and techniques for improvising splints in a wilderness setting with the materials you have. A comprehensive review of splinting technique translated from the hospital practice to remote practice. Also learn about what to expect when organizing and executing an evacuation over unimproved terrain, and how to function on a litter team.
Pediatric Trauma is the number one cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide for children. It is essential for EMS clinicians to be able to recognize and manage pediatric trauma
This presentation will discuss different EMS systems around the world in a comparative fashion. The audience will take away a broader understanding of what EMS looks like in different countries and the factors that affect and create these systems. We will explore their cultural, economy, educational components and more in order to explain why systems function the way they do. Using Pittsburgh, USA as a benchmark we will be evaluating each system to highlight the differences to traditional US prehospital and hospital standards of care. We will be reviewing, specifically, the structure of each prehospital care system as well as the educational requirements in order to work in EMS. We will also be evaluating what a typical day in that city's EMS system looks like. Video interviews with individuals from specific cities will be used to bring in first-hand experience. Lastly, for each city we will review relevant statistics between the different health care systems such as hospital beds available per capita and much more to highlight the major differences. We will explain these differences with a brief look at their cultural and economic backgrounds to explain why each system was created the way it was and why it functions in that specific way. This session is appropriate for all EMS levels.
Mangled extremities, impaled objects, dislocated joints, and arms clean off the body can be encountered in trauma victims by EMS personnel. This session will review key principles for extremity trauma evaluation and management with demonstration of key imaging. The session will also review how these injuries were ultimately repaired in the hospital.
When does that daily pick-me-up cup of coffee or can of Monster turn into potential bodily harm? We explore the various components of nutritional supplements & energy drinks, how fatigue can affect medical decision-making, and strategies to improve wellness. This session is appropriate for all EMS levels.