Smith and Rah on deciphering COVID-19 data

The COVID-19 Literature Surveillance Team: EMS One-Stop with Rob Lawrence

In this edition of EMS One-Stop, our host, Rob Lawrence, is joined by guests Dr. Will Smith and Medical Student Jasmine Rah. Dr. Smith and Rah are the founders of the COVID-19 Literature Surveillance Team (LST) which is reading, grading, decoding and explaining the majority published COVID-19 research that has been published in the last 12 months.

In the podcast, Rob recounts his article on the LST, then chats with Dr. Smith and Rah on the daily tasks of reading and making sense of so much research, and what they deliver to all who log in to their site.

Left to right: Will Smith, MD, FAEMS, paramedic; Jasmine Rah, cofounder and CEO of the COVID-19 LST.

Will Smith, MD, FAEMS, paramedic, is the medical director of the Grand Teton National Park, Teton County Search and Rescue, Jackson Hole Fire/EMS, USFS-BTNF. He also serves as a clinical assistant professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine and is an emergency medicine resident at St. John’s Health, Jackson, Wyoming. If that wasn’t enough, Dr. Smith is also a Medical Corps colonel in the Army Reserve.

Jasmine Rah, cofounder and CEO of the COVID-19 LST, is currently a medical student at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

Read the article: "‘Stay informed. Read less. Do more.’ Tools to evaluate research"

About the author

Rob Lawrence has been a leader in civilian and military EMS for over a quarter of a century. He is currently the director of strategic implementation for PRO EMS and its educational arm, Prodigy EMS, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and part-time executive director of the California Ambulance Association.

He previously served as the chief operating officer of the Richmond Ambulance Authority (Virginia), which won both state and national EMS Agency of the Year awards during his 10-year tenure. Additionally, he served as COO for Paramedics Plus in Alameda County, California.

Prior to emigrating to the U.S. in 2008, Rob served as the COO for the East of England Ambulance Service in Suffolk County, England, and as the executive director of operations and service development for the East Anglian Ambulance NHS Trust. Rob is a former Army officer and graduate of the UK's Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and served worldwide in a 20-year military career encompassing many prehospital and evacuation leadership roles.

Rob is a board member of the Academy of International Mobile Healthcare Integration (AIMHI) as well as chair of the American Ambulance Association’s State Association Forum. He writes and podcasts for EMS1 and is a member of the EMS1 Editorial Advisory Board. Connect with him on Twitter.