Inside EMS – Details, episodes & analysis

This episode of the Inside EMS Podcast is sponsored by Verizon Frontline, the advanced network and technology for first responders. To learn more, visit verizon.com/frontline.

The 2024 anniversary of 9/11 marks 23 years since the tragic events that forever altered the course of history and the landscape of public safety.

As we move further from that fateful day, the significance of remembering and learning from 9/11 grows even more critical. For many, especially younger generations, 9/11 is transitioning from a lived experience to a historical event, making it essential for public safety professionals to ensure that the lessons identified are not only remembered, but actively applied in today's ever-evolving emergency response environment.

In this special crossover episode of the Policing Matters, Better Every Shift and Inside EMS podcasts, Co-hosts Jim Dudley, Aaron Zamzow and Rob Lawrence highlight the importance of remembering 9/11 not just as a historical event but as a continuing influence on how public safety agencies operate today.

This week on Inside EMS, our cohosts discuss a recent study out of UC Davis Health that highlights the benefits of using naloxone in opioid-associated out-of-hospital cardiac arrest response. Chris and Kelly discuss the results and debate how this knowledge could impact OHCA protocols.

Top quotes

• “If you look at the … survival of hospital discharge, the number needed to treat was 26. So 1 in 26 patients you would do this to has a chance of surviving the hospital discharge. That's pretty compelling. It's going to change my practice.” — Kelly Grayson

• “It's obviously needed information considering how bad the opioid overdose epidemic is in the United States. The numbers are compelling – the fact that this affects so many of our out-of-hospital cardiac arrests and that this actually shows pretty strong evidence of improved outcome.” — Kelly Grayson

• “We think about over the past 20 years, and now with fentanyl being part of that process, we're starting to see a lot more [drug-related cardiac arrests] and there's an urgent need for this evidence that allows us to now figure out if Narcan can make a difference in OHCAs.” — Chris Cebollero

This episode of Inside EMS is brought to you by Lexipol, the experts in policy, training, wellness support and grants assistance for first responders and government leaders. To learn more, visit lexipol.com.

“Even after all these years of being in EMS, I still want to learn.” Flying solo this week, Chris Cebollero takes a note from EMS1 columnist Tim Nowak, walking listeners through his “11 keys to success for the rookie EMT.” Though directed at new EMTs, Cebollero makes the point that Nowak’s list of advice is really poignant for anyone at any point in their EMS career.  

Listen to learn: 

• The role ego plays on scene … and how to move past it 
• How to test your quick-thinking reflexes and level-up 
• The slow creep of complacency and how to avoid it 

Top quotes 

• "When someone needs you and needs your ability and needs your knowledge and needs your skill, you don't need to be looking for the OB kit." 
• "Never settle for the minimum, whether it's the standard of patient care, compassion, continuing education hours." 
• “You are going to make mistakes. You need to learn from your mistakes. You need to make sure that you don't do those mistakes again.” 

This episode of Inside EMS is brought to you by Lexipol, the experts in policy, training, wellness support and grants assistance for first responders and government leaders. To learn more, visit lexipol.com. 

This episode of the Inside EMS Podcast is sponsored by FirstNet, Built with AT&T. FirstNet uses the latest technology to keep your lines of communication and data open – to help you respond faster, smarter and safer.

This week, Inside EMS co-hosts Chris Cebollero and Kelly Grayson discuss the recent mass shootings across the country in New York, Texas and Oklahoma. What does the increase in shootings mean for EMS providers and should agencies prepare? Should organizations increase training for these types of scenarios? The discussion also revolves around hardening targets, arming teachers and industry impact. 

• Rapid response: 5 ways to be prepared for an MCI in your community
• Child death calls: How to talk to your family and support your mental health
• Preparing a workforce to deal with emotional trauma

This episode of EMS One-Stop With Rob Lawrence is brought to you by Lexipol, the experts in policy, training, wellness support and grants assistance for first responders and government leaders. To learn more, visit lexipol.com.

In light of the recent monkeypox outbreak, both the CDC and Atlanta’s National Emerging Special Pathogens Training and Education Center (NETEC) have issued specialist guidance to both EMS and healthcare.

To discuss this emerging issue, Rob Lawrence is joined by Alexander P. Isakov, MD, MPH, professor of emergency medicine at Emory University.  He is also the director for Emory’s Section of Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, whose faculty and staff provide medical oversight for 911 communications centers, first responders, and air and ground ambulance services in the metropolitan Atlanta area.

Additionally, Dr. Isakov founded and directs the Emory-Grady EMS Bio-Safety Transport Program, which supports the Emory University Hospital Serious Communicable Diseases Unit and the CDC for the transport and management of persons confirmed or suspected to have a high consequence infectious disease. 

Discussed in the podcast are the signs and symptoms of monkeypox, methods of transmission, precautions for providers and notification requirements. The conversation also includes COVID-19, and the current upward trend in cases.

This episode of the Inside EMS Podcast is sponsored by FirstNet, Built with AT&T. FirstNet uses the latest technology to keep your lines of communication and data open – to help you respond faster, smarter and safer.

In this episode, host Chris Cebollero interviews co-host Kelly Grayson about his new book, "Perspectives, Volume I: An Emergency Medicine and Public Safety Anthology." The concept for the book came from a successful excercise on Grayson's blog, in which he would create a fictional patient and elicit the perspective of an ER nurse and a police officer to understand how they see the same patient. 

For his book, Grayson expanded on the concept, and invited a number of public safety and public health professionals to collaborate on the work. Our co-hosts discuss how readers should approach the book, where the idea came from and what a lay person can glean from the pages.

This episode of EMS One-Stop With Rob Lawrence is brought to you by Lexipol, the experts in policy, training, wellness support and grants assistance for first responders and government leaders. To learn more, visit lexipol.com.

In this special edition of EMS One-Stop, Host Rob Lawrence is joined by Mike Taigman, improvement guide at FirstWatch, and Nicole Holm, MA, BCC, a chaplain with Allina Health Emergency Medical Services.  This edition was recorded the day after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

Holm and Taigman discuss resilience and the role of chaplaincy in EMS. The conversation identifies coping strategies and methods to prepare a workforce to deal with such levels of mental trauma in the future.

Read more: Uvalde aftermath: What should we do today? - “Sadly, this isn’t the last time we will see these headlines, but for us, today, put the tourniquet away and focus on the heart and soul of those in our charge.”

This episode of EMS One-Stop With Rob Lawrence is brought to you by Lexipol, the experts in policy, training, wellness support and grants assistance for first responders and government leaders. To learn more, visit lexipol.com.

In this episode of  EMS One-Stop, Host Rob Lawrence speaks with Stefan Korshak, senior defense correspondent for the Kiev Post. U.S.-born, now Ukrainian resident Korshak is a journalist and foreign correspondent reporter specializing in conflict zone work. 

Rob and Stefan discuss the general situation in Ukraine, humanitarian and refugee issues, and support being provided to displaced citizens by the Ukrainian Government, and the unity and morale of the general population.

In the second half of the podcast, Stefan recounts a recent visit to the front line and his interaction with ambulance and frontline medical support and evacuation operations.  To conclude, Stefan identifies current needs and it’s ambulances … as long as they are 4x4 AWD and armored.

This episode of the Inside EMS Podcast is sponsored by FirstNet, Built with AT&T. FirstNet uses the latest technology to keep your lines of communication and data open – to help you respond faster, smarter and safer.

In this episode of Inside EMS, co-hosts Chris Cebollero and Kelly Grayson discuss a recent news article out of Florida regarding a Fla. patient's Do Not Resuscitate order. The family of the patient alleges EMS providers violated the legal wishes of Celeste Salanitri, 81, who suffered from end-stage Parksinson's disease, after she was treated for a fall at an assisted living facility. 

"There is so much ambiguity when it comes to DNR's that EMS providers need to be up on how to handle when nursing staff or family members say there is a DNR in place," Cebollero says. 

Our co-hosts end the show by describing a series of DNR scenarios to consider how they would respond in the moment. 

This episode of EMS One-Stop With Rob Lawrence is brought to you by Lexipol, the experts in policy, training, wellness support and grants assistance for first responders and government leaders. To learn more, visit lexipol.com.

In this episode, host Rob Lawrence delves into the essential work of State EMS Associations, their functions and the key legislative activities they are undertaking.

His EMS leader guests for this podcast, recorded at the recent AAA Stars of Life event, include:

• Terrence Ramotar, director for government affairs for the SE region for Global Medical Response, and president of the Florida Ambulance Association
• Jimmy Pierson, president and COO of Medic Ambulance Service in Northern California, and president of the California Ambulance Association
• Chris Anderson, COO of Bell Ambulance of Milwaukee, and president of the Professional Ambulance Association of Wisconsin