May 1st, New Audio, EMS Week 2008 and other tidbits

April 30th, 2008

Well, spring is trying to get into full swing, but it’s still in the 50 degree area by me. Some important updates to the site as well as a few other areas of interest.

1 - The EMS Professional is growing fast. We just added new audio and video, instructor corner files, exams and the forum is live. If your not yet a member. Head on over join today. Click here

2 - Speaking of exams. A brand new autoscore exam was added to all exam areas of the site. 100 medic based questions on national standards. So, if you subscribe to the practice exams, own Turbo Medic or are a member of the The EMS Professional you can take advantage of this new exam immediately.  Make sure you let me know how you do on your exam. I love the feedback.

3 - New audio interview. I just completed a new audio interview session with Dr. Jennifer Milus. Dr. Jen and I discussed EMS provider health and well being. She gave some great insight and tips. Go here to listen.

4 - Free SAT practice exam software. I came across an offer for free SAT software. This software is worth $200. The only catch is that it is avaialble to veterans or military personnel. I figured since many of my members are in the military or are veterans, it would be great to let you know about this. Click here for details.

5 - Have you seen the field guides? We just set up a totally separate section that displays all the field guides offered at EMS Solutions. Go take a look and see if your area is covered. Remember that custom guides can be created for your organization as well. Go here to see the current list.

6- EMS Week 2008. If you are a current member you are already entered into the sweepstakes for EMS Week automatically. But be sure to spread the word to your peers so they can have a shot at winning some great prizes as well. Send them to
http://ems-safety.com/emsweek2008.htm You can also take a look to see what you can win as well.

I think thats it. Let me know your thoughts and I hope to see you on the inside of The EMS Professional soon.

Jim

I have a splitting headache

April 30th, 2008

Well, two weeks worth of aggrevation can make you feel like your gonna stroke out. The wife went and totalled the car. Not that it is so surprising since she drove it like it was stolen. Thankfully no one was hurt, besides the tree she hit anyways. The bigger headache is dealing with the loan company and getting all the paperwork done to have the loss finalized. I think I am filling out more paperwork than when I bought the car.

The second point of irritation is dealing with a cry baby EMT at work who got insulted because I yelled at him and his partner. Sorry if I hurt your feelings, but maybe next time you decide to stomp around the office and turn on lights at 2:00 am, you’ll think about somebody other than yourself. I of course have to get my wrist slapped for that one. I mean we cant insult anyones delicate sensability in this job can we.

At the same time though, I think perhaps a thicker skin is needed in this line of work. I could have ignored his inconsideration - (is that a word?), but perhaps he could have looked at the event through my eyes as well. Hopefully they can move past it. I hope they will start carrying an extra box of tissues for themselves. If they can’t take an obviously deserved rant from a co-worker. They sure are going to have a long case of the sniffles in this business, with the many undeserved rants from families, patients, bystanders, nurses, docs and any other number of people they will be on the receiving end from.

Good luck in your EMS career guys - but I have a feeling you are just passing through. 

Take a Tour of Turbo Medic and Peek Inside The EMS Professional

April 24th, 2008

I recently took a break from some pressing issues to post a short video presentation that will be included inside The EMS Professional members area next month. This is just a small sample of what members can have access too, but I thought it would be a great idea to give non members a peek. 

I also did a video tour video for Turbo Medic V3.0.  I think this will give people with any pressing questions on the product a better idea of what is inside. I am soon going to upgrade a few sections inside and add a master topic list as well for those users who want a quick list of all the individual resources.

You can take a look at the Turbo Medic video tour by clicking here.

 I hope those who are not yet members that are thinking about joining or claiming their own copy of Turbo Medic will go ahead and jump on in!

I hope to see you on the inside.

 Stay safe - Jim

Things sometimes move pretty fast

April 14th, 2008

Ok, well the launch of The EMS Professional was a great and fun success. Many have sent me emails on how useful and different they found the resources to be. But it won’t stop here. We have much more planned and I know everyone will love what is to come.

I joined a popular EMS radio show last week at Mediccast and had a great time talking about EMS leadership. You can see a lnk to that show on the right side of this page.

 I also started contributing to EMSlive.com, am a platimun author at ezine articles and have finally got Turbo Medic listed at Amazon.com

All this within about 2 months and much more on my plate. So, stay with me and join my newsletter so you won’t miss a thing.

Remember EMS Week 2008 is coming and I am dreaming up some great promo stuff for all my members.

Jim

The EMS Professional

March 24th, 2008

You may have noticed that I have been pretty quite the last few weeks. I have been hard at work putting the finishing touches on a new service.

I actually have not been this excited about a new product or service we have developed at EMS Solutions since the launch of Turbo Medic v3.0.

This new resource is so big I had to go and get a whole new domain for it and really start rethinking what I wanted it to be.

At EMS Solutions, we have a lot of resources for EMS Professionals and many are free, some are pretty cheap and a few are higher in the cost end. So, I started to think about the people who didn’t have the financial resources to get everything they wanted but still had that desire to really excel in their EMS career.

That’s when The EMS Professional was born. But I also wanted to give my current members a chance to get access to even more resources without repeating what they have already seen at EMS Solutions.

I mean it wouldn’t be fair to just put up my current products in a membership site and not only lessen the value of those products but maybe even insult current members by offering them cheaper.

So, I sat and thought about it and decided to bring all new content to the new membership site. This way everyone can get something out of it and not feel cheated in any way.

The EMS Professional. - http://TheEMSProfessional.com. Due to launch April 1, 2008.

This will give paramedics, EMT’s, dispatchers and any other EMS Professional a chance to enhance their education, pass exams, perform better in the field and hopefully motivate them to advance in their career and provide optimal patient care.

I tapped in to my years of resources and called in some favors to get top EMS instructors to contribute, searched for premium content and have made the committment  to continue to grow this site each month, with more and more resources and content.

I think this will be one of the fastest growing EMS sites on the web. I do plan on limiting members though. This is due to bandwidth issues and files being hung up with too many users at once. But as with anything at EMS Solutions, I plan on making it better and better.

I can’t wait.

Jim

I am Man Enough

March 15th, 2008

Ok, well I had a run of putting up a weekly radio show. For now I must put it on hold.

 The main reason being - Time.

I just cant dedicate the time and I am (if you know me by now) the type of person who just doesnt like to do anything half way. But I am man enough to admit when I am over my head and maybe did something a bit premature.

So, if you have been listening each week, I am sorry for the abrupt end. I do promise though that the EMS Solutions Radiio Show will rise again in the near future.

For now - I will still be conducting the EMS Audio Interviews and they will available via the EMS Podcast and the website.

In fact, I just did one today with Kris Kaull from EMS1.com and I really had a great time with it. I think these interviews are getting better every time.

I have more coming down the road so if you havent yet get on my mailing list and be the first to know when they are released.

Jim 

EMS Online Radio Begins

February 26th, 2008

I conducted my first online radio show yesterday. I think it went pretty well. I am admittedly a bit scattered but I am sure I will get better with a little time and reorganization.

What I really want is for you to come and listen live with me. This way you can call in and give me some feedback on the topics being discussed and even start a topic of your own that we can talk about live online.

I think once listener participation kicks in, it will be a great show to tune into each week.

Bookmark the blog or sign up as a free EMS member and you can see when the next show is scheduled.

Hope to see or hear you there.

Jim

Come Join Me At My EMS Radio Show

February 24th, 2008

OK, well I have decided to try and create my own radio show.

It will be each Monday at 1PM EST. Now I cant make any promises and I hope to keep it going forever. But right now let’s just say it is in BETA and see where it goes from there.

All EMS Solutions interview sessions and radio shows will soon be podcast direct from Itunes and you can also subscribe via the radio show itself.

Come and join me this Monday at 1PM at http://blogtalkradio.com/emss

Call in and lets talk. Hope to see you there.

Jim

The Biggest NYC REMAC Question

February 16th, 2008

I have been getting a lot of questions regarding the NYC REMAC Exam and the recent 2008 updates. The main concern is if the questions on the exam will reflect current changes or if they will still be referring to the 2007 protocols.

The answer is YES. They will reflect both 2007 and 2008 protocols. The exam is structured so that if you answer a question with either 2007 or 2008 guidelines it will be marked correct. So, whichever you are studying will be fine.

The practice exams offered on the website http://ems-safety.com/onlinetesting.htm are geared towards the 2007 protocols.

We did this since all NYC medics are not required to be in-serviced until June 2008. That is when EMS Solutions will update the question bank
for the NYC REMAC practice exams.

My suggestion is to study for the exam using the 2007 guidelines. Since this is most likely what you have been using up to now and will be easier to remember the protocols. You have 3 years to memorize and use the new ones.

Just as an FYI Feb 28 is the last to file for the next REMAC refresher in March.

Key areas that have been giving people issue are

EPI dosages in Peds
12 lead EKG’s
Ipecac dosages in Peds

Study up and good luck

Non-Visualized Airway in EMS

February 10th, 2008

I just posted a new audio session on using non visualized airways in the pre hospital setting. I sat with Dr. Keith Wesley from JEMs and we discussed his take on this subject. Is using non visualized airways, LMA, combi-tube or KingLT helping or hindering paramedics in the field or should patient outcome be the primary goal?

Listen in at

http://ems-safety.com/audio.htm

I think you will enjoy it.

Jim