Chronicles of EMS is a new reality series that will take a look at how social media and the EMS industry are coming together to provide both real-time communication and the sharing of best practices, thus demonstrating how paramedics from around the world are able to share ideas and thoughts, as well as some dreams, as to how to improve the EMS profession as whole.
Chronicles of EMS was created as a form of ‘edutainment’ in an effort to inspire dialogue, raise awareness and generate a change of impression the EMS industry has about adopting social media. Developed by Director & Producer Thaddeus Setla, NREMT-P, and Chris Montera, EMT-P, the project was conceived during an interview with paramedic Justin Shores (the Happy Medic) from the San Francisco Fire Department and Mark Glencorse (Medic 999), a paramedic from the United Kingdom. Their paths crossed as they both embraced blogging as a way of sharing their stories and getting feedback from readers. Mark happened to read an EMS blog regarding the care of a specific cardiac condition and how that patient required immediate cardiac intervention. Within 48 hours of accessing that information, amazingly Mark had a patient with the same heart condition. He recognized this and, instead of going to the nearest emergency department, his instincts told him to take the patient to the CRC. Mark later learned that had he not made that decision the patient may not have lived. This is the first documented social media patient save.
Project Summary
Mark Glencorse will arrive in San Francisco on November 8 and will ride with the San Francisco Fire Department for eight days on the engine and the ambulance to get a glimpse of this system and how it works. Justin Shores will be his tour guide, as they discuss the differences between the two systems. We will chronicle his visit over the week and bring this first time social media/EMS experiment to viewers in the form of a pilot episode.
For more information, visit http://setlafilms.com/ems-pilot.
