Wednesday, March 28
EMS Education Standards-Thriving In The New EMS Classroom
Sponsored by the South Carolina EMS Educators' Association
1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.
Classroom hours are increased, exams are more difficult and some of the main paradigms of EMS education have changed. What now? Educator and author Dan Limmer has been teaching educators about the standards since they were released. In this presentation he will share insights, methods and approaches to the National EMS Education Standards to help ensure success for you and your students.
Thursday, March 29
Medical Control Physicians Workshop
DHEC, EMS Division
8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Presented by the EMS Division of the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, this half-day workshop satisfies the training requirements for all new Medical Control Physicians and also satisfies the recertification requirements for current Medical Control Physicians who have not yet recertified.
General Session: Long May You Run
2:15 p.m.-3:30 p.m.
Providing comfort and compassionate care to those in need is the very essence of what we as emergency service workers do. Our patients may forget what we say, but they will never forget how we make them feel. No doubt about it: emergency service work is a very rewarding career! Yet, there is a dark side. Burnout, stress, and poor health are serious problems we all face – unless we learn how to stay balanced. “Long May You Run” gives you the tools allowing that balance to occur between work, family, health, friends, and your own spirit.
General Session: The Nations EMS Certification by The National Registry of EMT's
3:45 p.m.-4:45 p.m.
Come meet National Registry staff and learn some of the many things the NREMT is doing in the community. This session will provide detailed information regarding current NREMT activities including:
• transitioning currently certified EMS providers to Scope of Practice Model provider levels
• The Mark King Initiative (reinstatement of National Certification)
• computer adaptive testing / an overview of how exam items are developed
• data available from the NREMT network
• future plans for recertification
• and more
Friday, March 30
This presentation will take you from the initial presentation to the emergent outcome of some of our most precious patients. Designed to give you a systematic approach and procedural follow through, this pediatric to geriatric comparative was developed with emergency medicine in mind. Regardless of your experience you will most certainly modify your approach, treatment, and follow through with these fragile patients.
#102 Situational Awareness: It Isn’t Rocket Science (Or IS It?)
As an emergency service provider, your situational awareness of what is going on – with you, your crew, and your patient – is absolutely critical to provide the very best patient care. Mistakes do not, never have, and never will cause injury or harm to us or our patients. What, then, DOES cause us harm? This presentation focuses on the concept of situational awareness, a component of crew resource management taught to all commercial aviation personnel in the event of an in-flight emergency. Translated into the emergency medical environment, situational awareness not only keeps us safe; it improves our patient care. We should never allow complacency, poor communication, distractions, or losing sight of the ‘big picture’ to harm us – or our patients. Remember: No emergency scene is ever mistake-free as long as there are people involved!
The U.S. Metropolitan Municipalities EMS Medical Directors Consortium (The “Eagles” Coalition) is comprised of the jurisdictional EMS Medical Directors for the nation's 20 - 25 largest cities 9-1-1 systems as well as the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service. The purpose of their conference is to provide participants with the most cutting edge information on EMS research, management issues, lessons learned and newly-proposed advanced patient care techniques. This lecture will review the most pressing issues seen on the research, administrative, and patient care areas facing EMS today as discussed at the most recent EAGLES meeting held in February 2011.
Another chance is a lecture about just that, “another chance”. This lecture explores the details surrounding the stabilization and management of the potential organ donor. From initial contact in the prehospital environment to the surgical suite doors Another Chance focuses on the details of organ donation from all sides. Attending this lecture will help you gain control of the emotional, spiritual, clinical and legal aspects of this important facet of modern medicine.
Attitudes, Beliefs, and Choices are the critical elements to personal – as well as personnel – success. Did you know your attitude is your most priceless possession and absolutely critical to your individual success? Do you really understand that the only place your dreams become impossible is in your own beliefs about what you can – or cannot – accomplish? This presentation discusses attitude, beliefs, and choices and how important they are in your own career as an emergency service provider.
Do we fully understand the pediatric heart and how different the EKGs can be? This lecture will review the pediatric cardiac development and the common EKG variants seen. Also discussed will be common pediatric dysrhytmias and also drug ingestions that may manifest in EKG changes.
#301 Blue Shirt to White Shirt, Overnight…
One day you’re responding to calls with your partner of 6 years and the next day the boss calls you into the office. As you rapidly think back to your last ten calls and what might have gone wrong or whom you may have offended, you’re told to have a seat. The boss closes the door to the office and asks if you know why you are here? No, you reply, to which the boss says good. I am hoping you’ll take on additional responsibilities…I’m promoting you to supervisor! What does it mean now that you have additional responsibilities and the oversight of those that have been your friends and colleagues? Join Gary in this prequel of what life is really like with that white shirt.
#302 The Anatomy of a Trauma Patient
Trauma patients often need more care than EMS personnel can provide. Great care for a trauma patient involves the connection of many separate but interrelated areas and includes care that EMS providers may never know about like emotional and psychological support. In this session, you will follow the treatment of a patient & her family through the care provided by EMS, the hospital emergency department, the critical care unit and rehabilitation, as well as the impact that traumatic events can have on health care providers.
#303 Statistics for EMS Educators and Administrators (who are bad at math)
Evidence-based medicine is the future of EMS and affects all of us, but understanding and evaluating statistics and regression studies is complicated and can only be done by mathematicians, right? Wrong! In this session, we will take a look into evidence-based medicine, how regressions work and what all the numbers mean. We’ll also discuss how to determine if a study is valid or if there are confounding factors that could have influenced the outcome.
What does it mean to be a mentor? How does this relate to success in EMS? If one can “read the book” can’t they “do the job?” Taking the knowledge one gathers from the classroom experience and being able to put that brainpower into action is not always as easy as it seems. A good mentor, coaches, teaches, corrects, and praises their apprentice. It is said that the quality of an EMS Care provider is often related to the one who mentored them! This program will focus on what it means to be a proactive Field Training Officer and also what it mean to be a mentor.
#402 Pathophysiology of Pediatric Shock
This presentation will focus on the pathophysiology of shock in the pediatric population. Children are not just little adults. They compensate utilizing different mechanisms. This lecture will describe shock at the cellular level, effects it has regionally on various body systems and what interventions we can provide to minimize secondary injury.
#403 Current Trends in Resuscitation Care
The AHA’s 2010 Guidelines for CPR and ECC were released in October 2010, but new studies continue to emerge that change our understanding of Emergency Cardiovascular Care science. In this interactive session, we will discuss several of the newest papers and analyze them, looking at methods, outcomes, validity and treatment implications of these studies.
Saturday, March 31
Medical emergencies are a common pre-hospital challenge. One of the “most common” (and excruciating) components of today’s medical emergency is BORING text and lecture. Dyspnea, chest pain, seizures, diabetic complication and a host of other “routine runs” often find themselves mixed in a cocktail of “O2, monitor, IV, Transport”. More often than not there is little understanding of the why, and the what next. Case by case The Medical Here And Now promises a new look at our old problems. Colorful light will be shed on tomorrow’s calls while we explore the myths and realities of the medical side.
#502 Effective Detective: Using Your Triage Skills
In the pre-hospital setting, triage is usually reserved for mass casualty events. In the Emergency Department setting, triage is utilized for all patients on arrival and in the course of their care. Following standardized triage guidelines for both pre-hospital providers and emergency departments can ensure the continuity of patient care. Participants in this session will review triage guidelines and practice triage skills through the use of the audience response system.
#503 Developing a Comfort Level for Pediatric Airway Management
This presentation will focus on the anatomical differences of the infant and pediatric airway, common disease processes and traumatic injuries that pre-hospital providers may encounter and common genetic variants that may be encountered that could complicate airway management. Videos and demonstrations will be utilized for audience participation.
#601 How Many Fingers am I Holding Up? It’s Tuesday coach, lemme go back in… Acute Head Injury and Concussions in the Athlete
The days of “jog it off, you’ll be fine” are gone or are they? Each year a significant number of sandlot to professional athletes are the recipients of head injuries that involve concussions. Just what is a concussion, what affect will this have on the injured player? Are there keys to assessment that will help EMS to rule-in a concussion? What are the treatment choices for head injury and concussion? Join Gary for this informative presentation and hear what the latest is on head injury and concussions, coming to a playground near you!
When responding to an entrapment situation, EMS should be prepared to manage a patient with crush syndrome. Having your patient die moments after being freed is a tragic end to a well-executed rescue. EMS providers as part of these teams can reduce the chances of this through recognition and proper pre-treatment prior to removal. Come listen to this presentation and find out how.
#603 I Need A Drink and Don’t Have The Good Stuff
Alcohol abuse is a prolific problem throughout the world. Many individuals addicted to this substance will often spend their last dime on a drink of alcohol. Have you ever thought of what they do when they run out of money for the “good stuff?” During this session, James will explore common ingestions of substances chronic abusers of alcohol may use to replace the “good stuff” and the devastating effects it can have on the human body. This presentation is packed full of essential lifesaving information, infused with healthy doses of humor.
#701 Show A Little Restraint: Dealing With the Combative Patient
He's 6'4" tall. He's three hundred pounds. And he's high on PCP and methamphetamine. Can you handle him? Combative patients are an all-too-common EMS encounter. Be it an emotionally disturbed person or a combative drug addict, knowing how to safely restrain your patient can save lives - yours AND his. If you are forced to handle your combative patients on an ad hoc basis, without the benefit of a restraint protocol, this presentation is for you.
#702 Trachs and Tubes and Shunts, Oh My! Technology for Special Needs Children
Most EMS training teaches us how to deal with the “average” patient. Due to advances in medical technology and more plentiful support services, children who have suffered critical injuries and those with unique disease states are being cared for at home more than ever. This presentation will explain the most common equipment and technology that pre-hospital providers will encounter when caring for these patients.
Humor is a necessary tool in order to stay sane in this profession. The sarcasm, jokes, and comments traded between public safety providers are often found to be a form of stress relief. However, from the outside looking in, most would think that we need serious therapy. Aside from the psychological benefits of humor, valuable lessons can be learned. During this session, James will share with you some of the hilarious situations he has faced in his career and the lessons he has learned from each experience. Attendees are encouraged to use the restroom prior to this session, as having an “accident” would be embarrassing.
#801 Wound Ballistics: An Idiot’s Guide to Firearms Trauma
Guns are scary. Guns needlessly claim thousands of lives each year. Our streets are awash in assault weapons. Hunting weapons are harmless compared to military weapons. Saturday Night Specials are cheap, and commonly available. Velocity kills, and cavitation destroys human flesh. If you believe all these things from reading the wound care and public health literature, or even if you’re a neophyte who thinks “Kalashnikov” is what you say to a person who just sneezed, this presentation will challenge your assumptions about what we thought we knew about firearms trauma.
#802 Questions I’ll be asking God Someday…I Hope
Have you ever wondered why your body is built the way it is? What seem like oddities of the human anatomy and physiology are discussed in this highly informative presentation. Discussed also will be complications associated with various anatomical/physiological disruptions.
#803 Crew Resource Management in the Pre-Hospital Setting
This lecture will discuss the usefulness of Crew Resource Management in the EMS arena and will explore the history of CRM from the origination with NASA through current practice models. The components of CRM will be described as well as ways to improve the usefulness of every crew member in your service.