Dr. Joseph F. Clark worked as an EMT-Basic in and around New York city in the early 1980s to help pay his college and graduate school tuition. The patients he encountered, as well as the frustrations he experienced caring for patients guided him towards a career as a medical researcher.
In his new book, My Ambulance Education: Life and Death on the Streets of the City, Dr. Clark weaves together a story of his EMT experiences and his ongoing career as a Professor of Neurology at the University of Cincinnati researching the causes and treatments of stroke. In his interview with Greg Friese of EverydayEMSTips.com Dr. Clark discusses why he wrote the book, recalls a memorable patient named Fritz, and outlines his ongoing research efforts that are aimed at assisting EMS professionals in identifying the severity of a traumatic brain injury and determining if the patient has had an ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke. Dr. Clark concluded the interview by encouraging EMS professionals to play an active role in medical research that is conducted prehospital.
Links mentioned in show:
My Ambulance Education: Life and Death on the Streets of the City(Amazon link)
JosephFClark.com (bio, blog, and more)
Cincinnati Stroke Scale