NAEMSE Symposium 2012 Notes and Resources

Doing a little deskkeeping (cleaning my desk) and making a final pass through my handwritten notes from the NAEMSE 2012 Symposium that was held two months ago (August) at Walt Disney World. The follow is some of the tips, resources, ideas, books, and links that I think are worth sharing:

Rob Theriault, Greg Friese, Steve Kanarian

Training Priorities for the Next year

This from a group discussion in Steve Kanarian’s presentation:

HIPAA
Bloodborne pathogens
Head Trauma
Traumatic Stress
Medication Shortage
Driver Training
Active Shooter (Everyday EMS Tips active shooter CE Mash-up)
Cumulative Stress
Personal Health and Wellness (PDF resource Addressing the Epidemic of Obesity in the Fire Service)

Medication Review Activity

Steve Kanarian shared this training activity:

1. Give each student 3 index cards

2. Ask them to write a medication taken by a recent patient on each card

3. Shuffle all of the cards

4. Give each student three of the cards

5. Each student researches the drugs they have been dealt

6. Students present their drug card information to the class

Great, easy, low tech activity. Thanks Steve!

Minimize Student Cheating in EMS instruction

Bill Young presented Cheater, Cheater, Cheater. During his presentation I wrote down 14 techniques to prevent or minimize cheating.

Honor Code
Understand methods students use to cheat
Ask students not to cheat
Give clear test taking instructions
Discuss cheating scenarios/cases with students. Is this cheating? Why or why not?
Write really great (higher level) test questions.
Don’t use test questions provided by book publishers for graded tests.
Keep test materials secure.
Know your organization’s process for reporting and prosecuting cheating.
Role model professional behavior by using instruction materials, photos, and videos that are public domain or you have permission to use.
Regularly review and display rules. Visibly post classroom rules and cheating consequences in the classroom.
Use computer based tests.
No materials on desk, next to desk, under desk, near desk, etc. during tests.
Let your students know you will be watching them during the test.

Teaching Ethics to EMS Professionals

Bill Raynovich presented a series of cases to illustrate techniques for teaching ethics. According to Bill the number one ethical dilemma for EMS professionals is social media. In Bill’s opinion students and professionals don’t “grasp the danger of Facebook and Twitter.”

Closing the Achievement Gap

David Page and Heather Davis co-presented “Closing the Achievement Gap.” Heather presented research findings on the performance differences of students from low income or disadvantaged backgrounds and David presented the experiences of the St. Paul EMS Academy. It was a good combination of theory and reality.

One of the new to me terms was “role strain” which is the challenge of being the only one – the only African American student or the only Latino employee.

The St. Paul EMS Academy, in an effort to create EMS work opportunities for their students, has started a non-emergent BLS transport service. The proceeds from the service will be funneled back into the EMS education program.

David and Heather closed the program with these ideas on closing the achievement gap:

Don’t give up
Hope required
Appreciate any gains
Celebrate small successes
Provide support services
Pre-admission counseling
Be patient
Be flexible
Listen and learn about student’s challenges

Farewell Address by Bill Brown, NREMT Executive Director

For me the best presentation of symposium was the farewell address by NREMT Executive Director Bill Brown. He talked at length about his career in EMS and the lesson he has learned along the way. He shared this list of 10 things EMS people don’t know (based on NREMT question data):