Practical EMS
My mission is to use the stories we all have in emergency medicine to encourage and uplift you where you are. EMT, Paramedic, nurse, PA, NP or physician. Emergency medicine is a very difficult specialty with unique challenges, and it calls us all to be better than the average person in order to stay healthy for our patients, our families and own mental wellness. I want to connect with EMS crews, fire crews, ER RN's, ER techs and new ER advanced practice providers to better understand their current struggles. I also want to bridge the gap between prehospital medicine and the emergency department and to encourage those seeking to become an advanced practice provider. Disclaimer: All Practical EMS content is opinion only. It is unaffiliated with any company or organization and does not represent any company or organization that Aaron currently works for or has worked for in the past. No content should be taken as medical advice.
Episodes
113 episodes
108 | Dr. Emma Jones | The Phoenix Blueprint and burnout | Emerging Stronger from the Blaze of Healthcare | Core values | Questioning your thoughts | Circle of control vs circle of concern
Dr. Emma Jones is a hospice and palliative care physician, also worked as a pediatric oncologist and pediatrician. She’s been in the field for over 10 years and is active in helping healthcare professionals with burnout in the modern medical sy...
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44:40
107 | Bryan Jepson MD, CFP | Good debt and bad debt | Debt pay down methods | The 4% rule | Is whole life insurance a good idea?
Bryan Jepson MD and CFP, author of The Physician's Path to True Wealth: 12 steps to gaining control over your money and your time – you can find it on Amazon and at this website for free Br...
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44:13
106 | Bryan Jepson | EM physician and financial planner | Living rich vs living wealthy | Attributes for financial success
Bryan Jepson MD and CFP, author of The Physician's Path to True Wealth: 12 steps to gaining control over your money and your time – you can find it on Amazon and at this website for free Br...
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39:50
105 | Sick vs not sick | Should we trust our gestalt | Bias affecting care | Advice for the newbie RN, EMT, paramedic, PA | Running 3 gunshot wounds in one night
We need to remember that paramedic and EMT’s are solely focused on emergency medicine vs RN’s or even PA’s who are trained in general medicine then learn how to do EM later onLearning sick vs not sick is a skill that develops with time, ...
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29:09
104 | Conflict in the ED | Covid times | Long careers without burning out | Using what you do to define your identity | Limits to empathy |How do we solve interpersonal conflict in the ED?
How do we have long careers and avoid burnout?Micah talks about burnout and how we have the advantage in emergency medicine that we can leave work at work and step backHave time off and don’t work overtime every time an opportunit...
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33:19
103 | Sensitive hand-off reports | Paramedic role in the ED | Conflict on scenes | Remembering why you got into medicine in the first place
How do we handle the sensitive hand-off reports from EMS to the ED?Different aspects, like potentially violent family members, unsafe scenes, are often a critical details that need to be conveyed to the ED but don’t have to be announced ...
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37:42
102 | Giving report to the ED | RN workload vs paramedic workload | Why won’t the ED use your IV’s?
New panel with Audrianna (RN), Alex (paramedic), Casey (paramedic) and Micah (paramedic)What do the ER nurses like to get in the hand-off report from EMS?Audrianna likes to hear clear, concise reports. How ambulatory was the patie...
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34:28
101| Arriving first on scene | Big personalities taking over calls | Respect for the ambulance as our office | Fire crews riding in the ambulance | Transporting after reversing hypoglycemia or opiate OD
Some ambulance crews may not have the best understanding of how a fire crew is going to run a call, with everyone assigned specific roles – often the fire department will be allowing a new crew member to lead the callI always struggled w...
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31:45
100 | Fire vs ambulance on scenes | How can we get along | Trauma bonding | How to work in EMS long-term | PTSD in EMS | Burnout vs moral injury | Covid affects on EMS
How do we have successful, long careers in EMS?John recommends living away from where you work, doing unrelated activities outside of work so your life doesn’t revolve around work thingsTaking care of someone you know is an odd po...
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35:11
99 | Giving a good ER hand-off report | Unexpected retirement from the fire department | “What is the worst thing you have ever seen?” | Dealing with tragedy in the ER vs the field
Our system has made access to EMS trained medical directors much easier, which is a huge benefit to the crewsThe EMS fellowship for MD’s tends to attract those that are interested in helping EMS because they are passionate about it and n...
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27:17
98 | Fire paramedics and medical director panel | Assessing capacity | Suicidal patients | Involving medical control
New panel: Fire officer/paramedic John, fire paramedic Jason, retired fire paramedic Terry and EMS medical director KashHow to determine capacity and how this differs from competency This becomes critical when doing refusals ...
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36:02
97 | Drs. Sean and Adam | Difficult admissions | What admissions do and do not accomplish | Group culture | Obs vs in-patient status | How we can help the hospitalist from the ED
The difficult admissions are the generally weak, unable to walk with no acute findings. They typically do not uncover any acute findings while in the hospitalIn the ED, we can probably do a better job of involving some of our resources l...
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31:20
96 | Drs. Sean and Adam | EM vs IM | Admitting the weak elderly patient | Workflow as a hospitalist | Consulting a hospitalist
EM and IM physicians don’t get a great insight into each other’s careers in medical school or in residencyDo hospitalists like doing consults as opposed to just taking admission requests?Sean says, yes, because it gives us an oppo...
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35:42
95 | Drs. Sean and Adam | Emergency medicine vs Internal Medicine | Mindset differences | Good storytelling | Advice on admission requests
New panel with Adam and Sean. Emergency and IM medicine physicians There is a study from 2023 called Battles to Burnout. Studying the role of inter-physician conflict in burnout. Primarily the conflict between emergency physicians a...
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33:16
94 | Eddie opens up about his deepest struggles in EMS | Retiring from EMS | Lossing partners | Advice for newbies
A difficult aspect of the job is the poor understanding of the public of what we do in EMS, and the poor understanding that our non-EMS friends and family have of what we doThose of us in EMS can understand each other better, we have see...
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31:04
93 | Old school paramedics Casey and Eddie | I’m not doing it for the pay | The Privilege we have | Working in the ED as a paramedic
I tell those EMT’s that want to go to PA school or further education to just skip paramedic school. Go to paramedic school if you want to be a paramedic“I’m not doing it for the pay, I’m doing it because I love it.”Being a paramed...
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30:47
92 | Eddie and Casey | Good EMT partners | Calls that damage you | Remembering the bad calls over the good | Effects of a career in EMS
We talk about the immense responsibility and stress of being a paramedic and the stress difference I’ve noticed moving to ER PACasey talks about RSI and how it still causes his palms to sweatWe should have a healthy respect for hi...
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33:28
91 | Old school paramedics Eddie and Casey | Is EMS just a steppingstone | For some it’s a job, for some it’s a life
Best online EKG course you can finish in less than 4 hours:Practical EKG Interpretation - Practical EMS4 Category 1 CME credits - Fundamentals through advan...
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33:10
90 | Doing difficult things makes you stronger | Pain of getting well is sometimes greater than the pain of staying stuck | Is emergency medicine your purpose
Whatever your beliefs regarding God or lack of a God as you work in emergency medicine, I hope this episode will uplift and encourage youLaurie likes to reflect on the one patient she was there to help during the day. Or the one patient ...
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26:51
89 | Death and dying | Pastor Daniel Grothe | Non-anxious presence | Emotional whiplash | Habits to hit the reset button
Whatever your beliefs regarding God or lack of a God as you work in emergency medicine, I hope this episode will uplift and encourage youDaniel talks about how the most anxious person in the room gets the most attention, but we should st...
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30:05
88 | Death and Dying in emergency medicine | Pastor Daniel Grothe | New panel | Burnout comradery
Whatever your beliefs regarding God or lack of a God as you work in emergency medicine, I hope this episode will uplift and encourage youNew panel! Welcome Pastor Daniel Grothe, ER Physician Eric and ER PA LaurieDaniel talks about...
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31:17
87 | Kevin Hazzard | American Sirens | The great story of Freedom House and EMS origins | The good Samaritan | Early emphasis on intubation
Kevin Hazzard Author of A Thousand Naked Strangers and American Sirens (you can find these on Amazon or wherever books are sold). You can find Kevin Hazzard at KevinHazzard.com...
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25:30
86 | Kevin Hazzard | Missing EMS | American Sirens | Chaotic scenes | Early paramedic John goes from cleaning hospital rooms to intubating critical patients
Kevin Hazzard Author of A Thousand Naked Strangers and American Sirens (you can find these on Amazon or wherever books are sold). You can find Kevin Hazzard at KevinHazzard.com...
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22:02
