In paramedic school we learn a myriad of medical problems – from the unique to common. And new medics are prone to consider everything as equally possible instead of the most likely problem. So many EMS educators use this short exercise.
To their students: “Close your eyes. Now imagine you are on a large grassy expanse of rolling hills. There is grass as far as you can see. Listen to the wind in the grass and imagine yourself in this place. The sun is high in a brilliant blue sky. From a nearby ridge you hear the thunder of hoof beats approaching. Open your eyes and tell me what you see.”
Every students says, “Horses.”
Differential diagnosis is partly about reminding new paramedics that when you hear hoof beats it’s almost always horses. There are medical problems, so rare they don’t even have a Wikipedia page, that are the zebras. When you can definitely rule out horses then start looking zebras.
What a President Trump means for EMS
I didn’t receive responses to the questions I posed to the Clinton and Trump campaigns before the nominating conventions — not that I expected them to send a thoughtful reply or grant me an interview. Although we are on the front lines of the opioid overdose epidemic, chronic disease management and disaster preparedness, EMS compared to the massive ecosystem of health care is a single premature ventricular contraction in a lifetime of heartbeats.
It will be months or years before we for sure know what a President Trump means for EMS, but here are seven areas where his election and the continuing Republican majority in the U.S. House and Senate might impact EMS.
Read the rest at EMS1.com
What a President Trump means for EMS
I am not sure what’s ahead, but I agree with Dr. Racht.
"EMS we love solving people's problems and we love it when it's difficult and nobody else will do it. " Ed Racht. #EMSWorldExpo
— EMS1 (@EMS1) October 5, 2016
