A Day Offline: Top Articles from my Reading Pile

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Minor Storm Damage
outside my office

Yesterday at about 0800 a large thunderstorm knocked out the power in my work area. Being unable to use my land-line, mobile phone, or computer I tackled my pile of magazines and newsletters.

These were some of my favorite articles:
Innovative Implementations, JEMS July 2011. A detailed guide to the transformation of Louisville, KY EMS since a 2003 merger of Louisville and Jefferson County. The authors shared the software they are using for data collection and analysis.

Find your Farmhouse: Caring for the Rest of Our Lives. JEMS June 2011. Thom Dick, one of my favorite authors writes about how he uses photography of farmhouses to keep his life in balance. He advocates that each of us needs to have something in life that is bigger than EMS. Paramedic and photographer Joel Neild also uses photography to take his mind off work. See his recent images.

EMS World and JEMS helped me
pass the time without power

MCHD Redesign Takes a Forward- Thinking Approach. JEMS June 2011. This article is an interview with the Montgomery County Hospital District Medical Director about the design of their system. I really appreciated the mention of using a medic's actual field experience to design and individual training plan for the medic. I have been advocating that position for several years.

Simulation Station. JEMS June 2011. A description of the new Chicago Fire Department simulation and training center which includes a variety of high fidelity simulation training experiences.

EMS Response to Active Shooter Incidents. EMS World July 2011. In this article author Jim Morrissey challenges us to think how we respond to active shooter incidents. One of the prominent points in the article is that there is rarely a "Cold Zone" and EMS professionals should consider a police escort as part of their PPE package as they enter and work in a "Warm Zone."

Foreign Exchange. Supplement to EMS World July 2011. The supplement is a series of articles about a delegation of US EMS leaders that traveled to Israel to learn about Mass Casualty Incident response. Each article contains quotes from the delegation about how they plan to apply what they have learned to their EMS systems in the US. (links to articles and podcasts from my trip to Israel in 2007)

An advertisement in the July 2011 issue of EMS World for a tablet to treat "Shift Work Disorder" caught my eye. While I have no doubt that shift work, especially schedules with rotating nights or little opportunity for sleep is a significant problem for Fire and EMS professionals, I had no idea there was such a thing as "Shift Work Disorder."

NAEMT Member News. Look for the article "EMS Social Media: Why Get Involved" about how two young EMS professionals are using social media to expand their knowledge. Also look for the update from the PHTLS committee about the availability of PHTLS online continuing education and a PHTLS hybrid certification course.