Conference Speaking

Oral boards are one method to assure provider competency, both in the educational and the practice setting. As a high stakes assessment, oral boards often determine whether a provider passes or fails, if fit or unfit for duty. In this interactive session, we will discuss approaches to developing and administering oral board cases in a fair and effective manner.

As EMS professionals our jobs are physically, mentally and spiritually demanding. The stress is high and average time in the profession short. Depression is rampant throughout the profession. What can we do to make improvements? Fortunately, strategies exist to help improve well-being. In this interactive session, we will provide a broad overview of the barriers we face as EMS professionals to our own wellness and discuss strategies to make incremental improvements in personal wellness.

Caring for sick and injured patients in the pre-hospital environment is a physically demanding job. The situations are unpredictable and the periods of inactivity with intermittent bursts of strenuous activity produce significant stress on our bodies. Body mechanics, strength and mobility are impacted by the inherent nature of EMS. In this interactive session, we will discuss the impact our job can have on the body and develop strategies to reduce risk for injury and promote strength and mobility.

What we eat serves as fuel and building blocks for our body. Incorporating a well balanced diet can be a challenge in EMS. Long shifts and lack of scheduled breaks can lead to poor dietary choices. Nutritional myths are prevalent. Making healthy choices can be easier than you think. In this interactive session we cover nutritional myths, healthy food choices, and ways to optimize the EMS provider’s diet.

Tranexamic acid (TXA) is used worldwide in the treatment of hemorrhagic shock. While it has been used for a long time in other settings, its use in trauma became more wide-spread in the austere battlefield environment. Recently, TXA has transitioned into civilian trauma care with many EMS systems adopting TXA for use in out of hospital trauma care. In this interactive session, we will discuss the physiology of and the role TXA plays in treating hemorrhagic shock.

Patients who have sustained a concussion are commonly encountered by EMS, both in organized sporting activities and during “unorganized” activities. The long term effects of concussions are only recently coming to light in many contact sports. Concussion severity can range from mild to severe. In this session, participants will review the pathophysiology, treatment, and return to play recommendations for patients who have sustained a concussion.

Bedside ultrasound has become an essential diagnostic tool in the emergency department, used almost as often as a stethoscope and penlight. Bedside ultrasound has become a mainstay in U.S. military forward hospitals. Ultrasound technology is now available to allow increased field use of this tool and EMS systems are beginning to deploy units in the field. This session provides an introduction to field ultrasound and discusses its usefulness in evaluating and treating patients in the prehospital environment.

Communication issues have been cited as the most frequent root cause for medical error in several reports over the last decade. With this in mind, how can we improve communication, improve teamwork, and break down some of the hierarchical barriers that exist in healthcare? The TeamSTEPPS program is an evidence-based program developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the Department of Defense as a way to improve patient safety through teamwork and communication. In this introductory session, we will explore the TeamSTEPPS principles and how they can apply to the prehospital environment.

Patients complaining of abdominal pain can present the EMS clinician with several challenges. The abdomen can be a “black box” containing a lot of important organs but difficult to differentiate between causes of pain. How can the EMS clinician identify patients who have true abdominal emergencies from those with more benign causes of abdominal pain? In this interactive, case based approach, we will discuss the many etiologies of abdominal pain, from the benign to the life threatening and learn how to identify the dangerous causes of abdominal pain.

Patients activating EMS with a complaint of back pain are often considered lower priority patients, especially in the setting of chronic pain. Back injuries are common and a significant percentage of our population have had injury in the past that can make differentiation between new and old complaints challenging. Important assessment clues can point the EMS clinician towards more serious and emergent causes of back pain that can be easily overlooked. In this interactive, case based approach, we will discuss the many etiologies of back pain and learn how to identify the dangerous causes of back pain.

Headache is a common emergency medicine complaint that is often considered a lower priority compared with other complaints. However, sinister causes of headache are lurking out there! How do we sift through and identify patients at high risk for serious pathology? In this interactive, case based session, we will discuss the etiologies of headache and learn how to identify the more serious causes of headache.

When most EMS clinicians hear the term “resuscitation,” they think of cardiopulmonary resuscitation and advanced cardiac life support. However, if we wait until the pulse stops to resuscitate the patient, it’s often too late. Medical patients can be challenging and complex to manage. In this interactive session presents a systematic approach to recognizing and aggressively managing the pre-arrest patient, intervening before they go into cardiopulmonary arrest.

Critically injured patients challenge the cognitive and psychomotor skills of even the seasoned provider. Subtle findings sometimes warn the EMS clinician of impending deterioration. Aggressive resuscitation can mean the difference between life and death in this patient population. This interactive session presents a systematic approach to recognizing and aggressively managing the multi-system trauma patient.

Facial injuries occur as isolated injuries and as part of multi-system trauma. Facial injuries can range from the benign to life-threatening, potentially producing significant disability. In this session, management of common facial injuries and EMS impact on long-term outcome of these injuries is discussed.