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EMS Tips

EMS Tips – EMT LODD – Therapeutic Hypothermia Might Come Back

1. EMT Mousa Chaban, 32, died of injuries after ambulance collision (EMS1.com)

Chaban was partially ejected from the ambulance and died from his injuries.”

(Photo/Ind. State Police)

The driver of the ambulance, Christine Wesner, failed to stop at a red light, and “allegedly fell asleep and crashed into another vehicle.”

Resource: 5 evidence-based guidelines for fatigue management in EMS

2. Therapeutic hypothermia research for major trauma advances to human trial (NBCNews.com)

Can cold water save trauma patients from almost “certain death”?

“But at the University of Maryland in Baltimore, Dr. Samuel Tisherman is testing a more extreme form of hypothermia — with the goal of saving the most severely injured gunshot and stabbing victims from almost certain death.

A surgeon by training, Tisherman injects ice-cold salt water into the aorta, the largest artery in the body, to send body temperature plummeting from the normal 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit to the low 50s. At this temperature, his patients have no pulse and no brain activity, lying suspended between life and death for more than an hour without a single breath or heartbeat.”

Research is progressing from dogs and pigs to humans who have lost more than 50 percent of their blood because of trauma and have no pulse.

“Ultimately, it may be possible to give paramedics the training and equipment needed to apply therapeutic hypothermia to patients before they’re transported to the hospital.”

3. Video games and EMS education

Could this be the “chocolate+peanut butter” EMS educators have been seeking for the increasing number of millennials in the workforce?

Using video games to improve pediatric disaster education (EMS1.com)

By Greg Friese

Greg Friese, Stevens Point, Wisconsin, is an author, educator, paramedic, and marathon runner.

Greg was the co-host of the award winning EMSEduCast podcast, the only podcast by and for EMS educators. Greg has written for EMS1.com, JEMS.com, Wilderness Medical Associates, JEMS Magazine, EMSWorld.com and EMS World Magazine, and the NAEMSE Educator Newsletter.