Question If you are checking off your ambulance and you notice that the naloxone (Narcan) in your Revive! kit has expired, what should you do? Answer Remove the expired Revive! kit from the ambulance and return it to your station officers. It has served its purpose and is no...
Patient Care Notes
The Importance of Doing a Report
While doing some research for a little project, I discovered that EMR reports aren’t being completed. The project included looking at all of the helo crew and patient transfers between the VBGH pad and the hospital. Some of these cases had a crew out of service for over one...
Ambient Carbon Monoxide Detectors
AMBULANCE JUMP BAG AMBIENT CARBON MONOXIDE DETECTORS You may be wondering: What is this thing on my jump bag? How do I know it’s working? What do I do if its alarms keep going off? This is your Ambient Carbon Monoxide Detector. It constantly checks the air around you...
Prehospital Advanced Airway Use in VB-2016
Check out some of our intubation statistics for 2016 and some tips on documenting intubations. Prehospital Advanced Airway Use in VB 2016
How to Elite: Chest Pain Provider Impressions for BLS and ALS Patients
Many of our patients suffer from “chest pain”. The true reasons vary from STEMI’s to seatbelts and from asthma to aortic dissection. As you begin to assess your patient and make your diagnosis, you then have to put the patient into categories. The Medical Assessment tab in ELITE asks for your...
Sedation Issues: Ativan and Versed
Since January 1, 2017, there have been numerous instances in which providers have not followed the proper protocol when it comes to the proper medication, dose or route involving Ativan and Versed. The old and new protocols were taken into account and these issues were outside of both scopes....
Prehospital Administration of Naloxone in Virginia Beach Annual Update for 2016
Opiate abuse was declared a public health emergency in the Commonwealth of Virginia on November 21, 2016. The City of Virginia Beach Department of Emergency Medical Services (VBEMS) is administering more naloxone than ever before. Prehospital Administration of Naloxone in Virginia Beach-Yearly 2016 (3)
Pulmonary Hypertension Medication Pumps Alert
If you see that your patient has a medication pump, what should you do with it? Is it a pump for insulin? Is it a pump that is administering a life-saving medication and your removal of that pump would kill the patient? ...
New BLS Protocol–Naloxone
As you know, there is considerable attention these days on the rising number of opiate overdose deaths across the nation. This has led to dramatic changes, including easy access to Naloxone (Narcan) by family and friends of potential overdose victims. Meanwhile, the City of Virginia Beach has been an...
EMTs May Administer Albuterol/Atrovent
As of the 2014 protocol update, EMTs may administer both Albuterol and Atrovent (Ipratropium Bromide) via hand-held nebulizer (HHN) on standing orders. Although EMTs were not, prior to the 2014 update, permitted to administer Albuterol or Atrovent, those medications have been in the EMT curriculum for quite some time...