| Editor’s note: After three weeks of nominations and voting, we’re pleased to announce the 2012 EMS Blog of the Year winners. Congratulations go to Insomniac Medic, the winner of the Readers’ Choice category, and EMS 12-Lead, which came out top in the Judges’ Choice section. Thanks to all who nominated and voted — find out more about the winners here.
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Behind the scenes video from the Code STEMI web series
By EMS 12-Lead
Some excellent behind the scenes video has been posted for the Code STEMI Web Series (my special project with First Responders Network).
Click HERE
About the BloggerEMS 12-Lead is run by Editor-in-Chief Tom Bouthillet. He is a Fire Captain / Paramedic with Hilton Head Island Fire & Rescue, developer of the 12-Lead ECG Challenge smartphone app, host of the Code STEMI web series on the First Responders Network, a member of the Editoral Advisory Board of EMS World Magazine, a columnist for EMS1.com, and has taught nationally in the Critical Care Transport (CCEMT-P) program out of UMBC. Also contributing are David Baumrind, an ALS-Critical Care provider and STEMI/Cardiac Arrest coordinator for his department, and Associate Editor Christopher Watford, a paramedic with Leland Volunteer Fire/Rescue Department and New Hanover Regional EMS and a captain on GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy’s industrial fire brigade. Read more posts at InsomniacMedic.com |
Mayme Lou Roettig RN, MSN and Chris Granger, MD from Duke University (RACE program North Carolina) explain how first responders are a critical part of the early management of acute STEMI. “Things are shifting more and more into paramedics playing the key role in providing the initiation of these time-dependent processes for improving care.”
Click HERE
Michael Hibbard, M.D. talks about the importance of technology in maximizing the benefit of the prehospital 12-lead ECG. Many patients have baseline abnormalities such as bundle branch blocks, conduction defects, or persistent ST-elevation from previous heart attacks. “It’s a lot easier to determine going from normal to abnormal than to determine abnormal to more abnormal.”
Click HERE
Jodi Doering, R.N. from Mission: Lifeline South Dakota shares what it’s like helping build regional systems of care in a rural state. “This is such a once in a lifetime opportunity which is why I’m in this role. I live in a rural environment. I live 40 miles from the nearest Critical Access Hospital and about 120 miles from the nearest PCI facility. This is me. This is my family. We need to have not only plan A but plan B and plan C in South Dakota.”
Click HERE
STEMI survivor Forrest “Mick” Stanton encourages a neighbor to get his chest discomfort checked out and saves his life. “They were calling for the air ambulance and took him to the heart hospital in Sioux Falls. He got home 2-3 days ago. A triple bypass he had. His main artery — his widow maker artery — was so closed up they said there was probably no more than a hair’s width — the width of a hair — left in that.”
Click HERE
Arthur Reba, M.D. F.A.C.C. talks about the problem of patient delay in seeking treatment for acute myocardial infarction and the importance of considering total ischemic time. “We know why people delay but how do we get this message out? Public education campaigns have not been very effective…We need a very innovative way.”
Click HERE
Lt. Stuart Debrowsky and Lt. Steve Worden talk about Dearborn Fire Department, what it’s like to walk in your father’s footsteps, and their commitment to being good at both EMS and fire suppression. “Nobody here got hired saying, ‘You’re a great paramedic don’t worry about that fire stuff’ or ‘you’re big enough to carry the truck around the block don’t worry about that medical stuff’. From day one when you put that patch on your shoulder you’re expected to have a high standard in both fields.”
Click HERE
National Director for AHA Mission: Lifeline Chris Bjerke, R.N., B.S.N. talks about the American Heart Association and evidence-based care for acute STEMI. “Not all patients can go directly for primary PCI to open up that blood vessel which is what they really need. So for those patients that are located where they can’t get to primary PCI within that recommended timeframe — which just went from 90 minutes to 120 minutes — what we want our facilities to do is look at those patients and determine if they would be eligible to receive fibrinolytics.”
Click HERE
Interventional cardiologist Tim Henry talks about the state-wide STEMI system in Minnesota. “What we’ve shown with this program is by having a standardized protocols and individualized transfer plans for that community and that hospital, you can effectively transfer patients up to distances of 210 miles away with outcomes that are identical for those patients who present to that PCI hospital itself.”
*** SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT ***
The premier episode of the Code STEMI web series
made its debut at EMS Today 2012 in Baltimore!
Click HERE to watch Episode 1
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