The Good, The Bad & The Ugly Paramedic

JULY 1, 2020

As paramedics, whilst we often take great offence at being called ambulance drivers, the question is, when it’s our turn to drive, what exactly is it that we are providing? Do we fully engage in shared patient care with our attending partner, or do we switch off so that we can simply drive the ambulance and take it easy?

Ambulance Driver

The Overrun Podcast

FEBRUARY 23, 2021

Do you cringe each time you see a news story talk about “ambulance drivers”? Do you cringe each time you see a news story talk about “ambulance drivers”? Have you ever wondered why the news media gets EMS stories so messed up? Is your agency concerned with sharing your work with the community because of “HIPAA”?

Ambulance Driver

NCOAE

FEBRUARY 20, 2023

And they’re certainly not “Ambulance Drivers.” It was accompanied by an expanded set of knowledge and skill expectations for emergency medical technicians (EMTs). There is nothing “basic” about what an EMT learns or the skills he or she can perform.

EMT

NCOAE

NOVEMBER 13, 2021

EMTs are not just “ambulance drivers,” although that’s certainly a critical part of their occupation. Depending on where you live, you may see them every day or just when there’s a fire, police, or medical emergency where you are.

EMT

Ambulance Driver Files

MAY 26, 2023

… there’s a new column up on EMS1. The Special Forces of Healthcare: Becoming Force Multipliers in Emergency Care

EMS

Ambulance Driver Files

SEPTEMBER 13, 2023

On April 14, 2023 I suffered a life-threatening massive pulmonary embolus. I had a DVT that I had ignored/rationalized for nearly a year that turned out to extend from my mid-calf to lower thigh, and on April 14 a big chunk of it broke loose and tried to kill me. I had major clots in.

Ambulance Driver

Ambulance Driver Files

NOVEMBER 3, 2023

Hit a couple of personal records running in the pool today:Did 75 laps in 60 minutes, a personal best. Hit 100 laps in 82 minutes, also the most ever.Kept going and hit 109 laps in 90 minutes, although the last nine or so were more of a drunken weave/stagger.354 354 pounds on the scale today, another.

Ambulance Driver

Ambulance Driver Files

NOVEMBER 13, 2023

Broke 100 laps in the pool again today. Did 103 laps in 90 minutes. Even better, that average heart rate was down to 92 in one minute, and 72 in ten minutes. That’s pretty damned good cardiovascular recovery for an athlete, much less a fat guy trying to get in shape.Weighed in at 348.7

Ambulance Driver

Ambulance Driver Files

DECEMBER 29, 2023

That’s what two hours of killing yourself in the pool gets you. Weighed in at the doctor’s office this morning at 334.4 pounds, down 14.3 pounds from my weigh-in on November 13. Even better, BP was 106/60 and resting heart rate was 58.Got Got two shots of Dr. Wonder’s Miracle Knee Lube (TM) and made plans.

Ambulance Driver

Broken Paramedic

FEBRUARY 19, 2016

Dear frontline ambulance colleagues, After 12 years of responding to 999 calls and subsequently watching from the sidelines as family and friends continue to do so, I am only too aware of the ever increasing pressures and the ongoing erosion of the ambulance clinicians’ lot.

Ambulance

Ambulance Driver Files

JANUARY 11, 2025

The best… and worst… boss I ever had. I’m gonna miss her. I had been an EMT perhaps two weeks when I met her. The big EMS agency in my town wouldnt have anything to do with me; I showed up at their headquarters and asked the receptionist for an application, and then cooled my.

EMT

Ambulance Driver Files

JANUARY 11, 2025

Haven’t updated this in a while… but the weight has steadily been coming down. Weighed in at 272.6 today, down 3.4 pounds since Wednesday. Not bad, considering I ate whatever I wanted during the holidays and haven’t been in the pool in two months. For those keeping score at home, that’s 127.4 pounds less than.

Ambulance Driver Files

MAY 26, 2023

This week to celebrate EMS Week, I had the privilege of giving a few talks at the Swamp Rabbit Prehospital Medicine Conference put on by Prisma Health and the University of South Carolina School of Medicine in Greenville, SC. It was a well-run and attended conference with a great lineup of speakers. Besides myself, there.

EMS

Ambulance Driver Files

MAY 29, 2023

Today is Memorial Day. Normally, most of us would have spent the weekend grilling burgers and visiting with relatives, or lounging on a beach somewhere, or watching a baseball game in an opulent stadium, overpriced beer and hot dog in hand, but let’s not forget the meaning of the day. So when you partake in.

OR

Ambulance Driver Files

JULY 18, 2023

It was often said that I had no brakes on my Dare Car, and today’s shopping trip proved it. I was browsing the maternity section at Lane Bryant, and not for clothes for Mary. Thus far, Operation Impregnation had produced zero results, but I vowed to soldier on and do my part in the procreation.

Ambulance Driver Files

MAY 16, 2023

Starting June 20, 2023, Amazon is raising prices on all books published through Kindle Direct Publishing, supposedly to better align with current paper and materials costs. It’s a pretty substantial bump. My full-length books, both hardcover and paperback, will be about $4 more expensive per copy.

Ambulance Driver Files

MAY 31, 2023

One of the most egregious disservices to EMS students is what passes for medicolegal education in EMT or Paramedic school. Far too often, students are subjected to myth, dogma and outright b t from instructors who have at best a superficial understanding of the subject, most of whom have never had their lessons taught or vetted.

EMT

International Journal of Paramedicine

JANUARY 5, 2024

Background: Ambulance drivers are more likely to be involved in fatal or injury collisions compared to other professional drivers. Study Objective: This study is a retrospective study aimed to describe factors involved in paramedics’ collisions.

Paramedic

Ambulance Driver Files

APRIL 3, 2023

En Route: A Paramedic’s Stories of Life, Death and Everything In Between is now available in hardcover! Remember, if you’d like personalized and signed copies of my books, click one of the book covers on the right sidebar!

Paramedic

Peter Canning

NOVEMBER 17, 2024

We are there to simply carry her mother out to the ambulance, drive her to the hospital. Ambulance driver by day. We put her mother in the stair chair and carry her gently out to the stretcher, and carefully place her on it, get her bundled and safely belted, and then lift the stretcher into the back of the ambulance.

Ambulance Driver