MedicCast Show Ideas

[Jamie Davis, the Podmedic]

Got a tip or trick you would like me to review? How about a Med of the Week? You can post your show ideas here along with news links and other story ideas. I can't wait to see what you all come up with!

Jamie, the Podmedic

[Tim Toth]

Hello Kevin,

Although there is no true requirement for this, but as you have indicated, the premise of medicine is to do no further harm. Emergency Medicine also falls into that doctrine.

As an EMS Instructor/Coordinator, I always address the issue of proper padding techniques with my students. Any time we have a patient on a spine board, and can see red discoloration of the skin, we're already on the way to a mild form of compartment syndrome. True, it may not necessarily become the full-blown rhabdomyolisis and release the myoglobin into the bloodstream as the cells die off, the damage is still occuring.

There is a product available called "Backraft" that is an inflatable air cushion (costs around $18-19, and the pump is about $8) that does the job very nicely. Have personally utilized it during a five- hour technical rescue from a mountain climbing incident, and positively swear by it!

That said, bath blankets and pillows also work wonders. Think about the last time you had to immobilize someone with severe kyphosis. What did you do to make the patient comfortable?

Nothing hard and fast from our EMS Office, or any agency specific protocols. Why not? We may have just opened a whole new 'can of worms' to deal with.


Tim

"Hey, let's be extra, extra careful out there"
The fictitious Sgt Phillip Esterhaus: Hill Street Blues television show

[Tim Toth]

Anyone want a cat? We're both typing on the keyboard (sorry about the spelling errors!)

TPT

[Dean Harris]

How about successful communications between different personnel? I know we reall talk about it , as there must be a good level of communication, especially when you have 3 battle dressing stations being dispatched to different casualties around the ship, triaging, etc.

Sorry about the humongeous run on sentence.

[Dean Harris]

Sorry, meant effective communication. Also, we have main medical on top of it.

[Jamie Davis, the Podmedic]

I'll work on this for a future episode. Thanks for the idea!

Jamie Davis, the Podmedic

[Michael Carter]

I was watching an old episode of the Virginia EMSAT the other day and saw an episode that I think would make a good podcast topic for MedicCast Live. They had Elizabeth "Betst" Smith on to talk about a program she co-authored. This program is the Special Children’s Outreach and Prehospital Education program or SCOPE, an award-winning program designed to improve the prehospital provider’s knowledge and comfort level when encountering children with special health care needs. I thought it would be a good idea to talk about other programs around the nation, or even this program, that deal with special needs children and how to efficiently integrate them into the EMS system.

[Kyle Wright]

I would like to see a MedicCast on us military medics, and what our different jobs are in different locations. You touched on military medicine a bit when you did your tactical EMS cast (a favorite of mine). The military world of medicine is so different, scopes of practice so varied, I think it would be interesting for everyone.

Tips and tricks I would like to see is more on different hemostatic agents. You have touched on them, but I havent heard anything in depth on the different brands available these days.

[Jamie Davis, the Podmedic]

Thanks for the ideas, Kyle. I don't have any experience with hemostatic agents and have heard widely varying reports on their effectiveness and uses in the civilian sector. If you have anything to add on this I would love to hear your take on them. I just don't have any personal experience to offer and don't believe that I have the necessary experience with them to give them a fair review for the providers who listen to the show.

As far as military medicine, I need to follow up on some leads to offer an interview to some military medics and those involved in military medic training to find out more about how they are organized and what their training process is. I'll look into this some more!
--
Jamie Davis, NREMT-P "the Podmedic"
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[Stephen Keath]

I am interested in the topic of using faith in our daily care of patients. I know this is a topic that hits close to me. I have many times prayed with patients that were not doing well and had possible fatal outcomes from their acute illness. While transporting these patients their minds are focused on mortality. Often times a simple prayer and encouraging word allows the patient to take their mind away from the bad and i have had patients completely take a turn around and start to do much better. It is often easy to find out and break the ice per say. While doing interfacility transports our hospital information sheets often give their faith. You can open conversation with the patient by saying "i see here on your information sheet you are Baptist. Would you like to have a short word of prayer with me and ask God for healing and comfort?". You will be amazed at what works God can do when you focus on Him. I of course have had people deny this offering and I have to respect that. I guess most of all it shows that you care about your patients by offering. You will be amazed at what it does for my own attitude and well being. I have had a difficult time finding information on this topic on the net. I did find this article which comments on a poll taken that is interesting. www.merginet.com/index.cfm%3fpg=holistic%26fn=spirituallifesupport . You may know of some resources on this topic.

[Dale]

Hi,

How about a segment on new alternative power vehicle accident response. as EMTs' we don't often have to cut a car, but we are often first on scene. And we seldom have good gear to protect ourselves and our patients. How do we handle side air bags, electric cars, E-85 fuel spills, propane fuel, and all the other stuff that is making an appearance on the streets and highways.

There doesn't seem to be much information available to EMS/Rescue personnel on this subject. And these vehicles are becoming more and more common place.

Dale

[Paul Fiereck]

Jamie,

Can you talk about concusions? This is in referance to Motorcycle racing. The service I work for covers a drag/road course and I work close with a Motorcycle club that races 5 times a year. We see alot of riders with concusions.

[Emma Schneider]

Teenagers intersted in getting involved in the field and how they would be able to do so.
How and where can they volunteer with skills from being trained in CPR, AED, First Aid, and First Responder. Would there be any prerequisites?