If you are in the EMS profession, one day it is going to happen: someone in leadership walks up to you and asks, “Hey, do you want to be a preceptor?” On the surface, it feels flattering! Somebody thinks you are good enough at your job, both clinically and interpersonally, to shepherd a student into the profession. But saying “yes” is not like saying yes to a little extra responsibility on the side. It is saying yes to shaping (or destroying) another human being’s career, min

You and your partner are working on a Saturday evening when the tones go off, law enforcement is requesting you to respond to a residence they are currently at after responding to a domestic in progress. Dispatch tells you that law enforcement has secured the scene and that your patient has been stabbed multiple times. When you arrive to the scene, you enter the residence, and a law enforcement officer leads you into the kitchen where you find another officer kneeling on the

Scene safety is one of the first things we learn in EMS, and interestingly, it’s often one of the first things forgotten. Human nature drives us to rush in and help as quickly as possible, sometimes leading us into dangerous situations. While tunnel vision might be an overused phrase, it captures how urgency can blur judgment when risk is highest. We approach patient care through a hierarchy of priorities: assessment, intervention, and operational steps that stabilize the pat

You and your partner are working on a Friday afternoon when the tones drop. Dispatch tells you that your needed at a residence for a patient involved in a house fire. When you arrive on scene, you see a double story house that is fully engulfed in flames. The fire department tells you that your patient is with first responders in the next driveway over at the neighbors house. When you get to the patient, you find a 26 year old female who tells you she is 24 weeks and 4 days p

In Search of Proof I was researching the aging respiratory system for a geriatric trauma class when I came across a source that said...