Sunday, November 21, 2010

Take Care of Yourself

Throughout your EMS training, it is repeatedly drilled into your head to look out for you and your partner's safety. You want to remove the possibility of injury/illness to you and your partner and remove the possibility of further injury and illness to your patient. We all do scene safety to make sure there are no hazards and take appropriate action to mitigate the hazards to make it safe for us and the patient. We all put on BSI precautions without even thinking about it.   Do you ever think about why?? You're probably thinking "Of course, I do it to protect myself from catching any transmittable diseases from my pt." Absolutely, you do it to protect your some from illness but what else can and should we do to prevent ourselves from injury and illness? EXERCISE! 

What?? Are you kidding me?? No, I am serious. Our job requires us to work in all types of conditions, lift a variety of weight, and work while in awkward positions. The #1 injury to EMS professionals is back injuries. Industry studies have found:
  • "One in four EMS workers will suffer a career ending back injury with in the first four years of service. The number one physical reason for leaving EMS". (mytactical.com, EMS Back Injury Facts, 2007)
  • Back injury from improper lifting is the number one injury suffered by pre-hospital care providers, according to a New Mexico's EMT training manual.
  • "Almost one in two workers (47%) have sustained a back injury while performing EMS duties", (National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians, 2005)
Back injury is one of the main concerns but we should keep every aspect of our bodies in good shape. A number of things we can do to limit the possibility of injury are fairly simple and can be done at home or outside. Yes, you do NOT need an expensive gym membership. 

1) Running: Increases your cardiovascular and your stamina allowing you to have more energy so by the time you are at the end of your busy shift you still have a little left in the tank. Better cardiovascular also reduces the risk for heart disease, stroke, and many other diseases. 

2) Stretching: Increases flexibility, muscle control, and range of motion. When you're in an awkward position in that car at an MVC holding C-Spine on your pt, you do not want your muscles to cramp up.

3) Core Exercise: Increases the strength of the "central part of your body: Abs and Lower Back. Exercises that are considered working the core are crunches, leg raises, v-ups, and etc.  I would say this is the most important group of exercises due to the fact that back injuries are so prevalent in our industry. Yes, it is important to use proper lift techniques but what happens when you can't because of pt position?? 

I know I have only scratched the surface but this gives a quick view of what can be done to prevent injuries. There are also lots of home workout programs available on the web as well as other resources. Personally, I have complete the workout program from Beachbody called P90X and it covers all the areas that would physically benefit an EMS provider. 

You take precautions against illness but are you taking precautions against injury?? Losing excellent minds due to the "inability" to do the physical part of the job, seems like such a waste especially since it is so preventable. Look out for yourself and your co-workers to stay in shape. Encourage and challenge each other. Do whatever it takes so we don't lose co-workers to injury.

Stay Safe...

References:
EMS World - http://www.emsworld.com/publication/article.jsp?pubId=1&id=11115 
Exercise for EMS - http://www.livestrong.com/article/300120-exercises-for-ems/
http://www.itecmfg.com/liftinglawsinjurystats.html

Friday, November 19, 2010

How It All Started...

It was three years ago this week that I signed up for my Emergency Medical Responder (EMR) course. Truth be told, I was never planning on joining the EMS industry, I laughed at the people who asked if I would ever work on an ambulance.  I guess those people knew me better than I thought. So why take my EMR??

Since I was in high school I wanted to be a police officer, so I took all the necessary steps: I volunteered at a number of places, I went on to get a post-secondary education, and was careful to stay out of trouble. Wanting to volunteer more, I decided to look into the local volunteer fire dept and the one requirement they looked for that I did not have was my EMR. At the time, I was working in the landscaping industry but due to some unfortunate incidents I was let go. Looking back, it was the best thing that happened to me since two days later I was signed up to take the EMR course in the city.

During the course, I was fascinated with the human body and how it works as well as the medical breakthroughs that allow us to assist others. The paramedic teaching my course passed along some war stories and I was hooked. It was then that I decided to look into becoming a paramedic. Looking into it, I realized that it was everything I looked for in a job. I would be able to help people in stressful and traumatic events. I would be able to always learn about the human body, the mind, culture, society, and the list goes on. I would also be able to get the excitement and variety I was looking for in a career.

So having decided to continue on in my medic education, I continued on and am currently working as an EMT. I have been working on car for 1.5 yrs. Working in the rural EMS industry, it is quite a bit slower than urban/suburban areas. I was finding myself stuck in a rut just going to work and spending time on facebook, watching TV, and playing video games over and above attending calls and doing base duties. A co-worker was talking about how he listens to podcasts to assist with his paramedic studies. Figuring this would be a good way to spend time while driving, I started the search. Starting with Itunes, I found EMS Garage, First Few Moments, GenMed Show, EMSEduCast, and the new podcast Pedi-U. After a couple of months of driving to and from work and listening to lots of podcasts (I had a lot of catching up to do and still haven't completely caught up). I noticed one trend with the podcasts in one word - Twitter. 

I joined Twitter and found a whole new world of like-minded people of what and where the EMS industry should go. I started to get excited about the possibilities finding many quality blogs, more podcasts and websites. Realizing that I wanted to share my observations and opinions with others and receive feedback, I looked into blogging but had initial reservations due to my lack of skill in the writing department. Thinking about it I decide that it doesn't matter as long as you the reader get the point that I am trying to get across... so here's to a new chapter in my EMS career...