7:00am to 8:00am
Situational Awareness for Fire and EMS
Wesley Semple, Jr. | Allegheny Health Network
CONED: 1.0 Other
SPONSORED BY Allegheny Health Network
With the increasing amounts of violence towards first responders, it is important to prepare yourself for what could happen during your shift. This program will cover various topics including how to read the scene, street survival tactics for your everyday life, situational awareness, cover vs. concealment and much more. This session is appropriate for all EMS levels.
8:00am to 9:00am
Code "0" at 23:45hrs: Now Who Is Going To Tell The Family?
Christopher L. Hendershot | Allegheny Health Network
CONED: 1.0 Clinical Patient Care
SPONSORED BY Allegheny Health Network
We address the topic everyone wants to avoid; how to tell a patient's loved one that they have died. It is the one thing that is referenced when we are trained, but have had to learn all on our own. No one wants to do it, some are good at it and others pray it doesn't have to be them. Using both medical and traumatic scenarios, we drill through the grieving process that occurs and how we can offer support to those impacted by the loss. In addition, we address support systems for us as after the call. This session is appropriate for all EMS levels.
Geriatric Trauma
Dr. Dylan Morris | UPMC Mercy
CONED: 1.0 Clinical Patient Care
Fall down, go boom. Older adults are an ever increasing percentage of the population and EMS workload. They are at very high risk for significant trauma, even from low energy mechanisms. This talk will discuss changes in geriatric physiology which make them more prone to injury, more likely to have serious pathology and how we in EMS can improve our care of older adults. We will also discuss the increasing role for EMS in injury prevention and elder care. This session is appropriate for all EMS levels.
9:15am to 10:15am
The Art of the Consult
Dr. Dylan Morris | UPMC Mercy
CONED: 1.0 Clinical Patient Care
EMS providers routinely consult medical command for orders and advice. These are high stakes interactions where concisely and precisely conveying information is crucial to patient outcomes. The talk will review best practices for consults, provides tips for optimizing the interaction and enhancing patient safety. We will discuss common pitfalls and how to avoid them. Finally, we will review real consults to dissect what went well and what didn't. This session is appropriate for all EMS levels.
Life Savers and Heart Breakers: The Future of Cardiac Arrest
Dr. Frank Guyette | STAT MedEvac
CONED: 1.0 Clinical Patient Care
SPONSORED BY Penn Care Inc
Survival from cardiac arrest with good neurological outcomes has risen from 2% to 12% nationally. What strategies lead to high rates of survival and what opportunities are there for improving outcomes in out of hospital cardiac arrest (OOHCA)? We will reinforce the tenants of high performance CPR including improved bystander CPR, high compression fraction, minimized interruptions, and delayed airway management. We also discuss the evidence for new trends in OOHCA management including, termination of resuscitation in traumatic arrest, heads up CPR and mechanical CPR. We discuss future technologies that may change prehospital resuscitation including, ultrasound guided CPR, field ECLS, and intra-arrest hypothermia. This session is appropriate for all EMS levels, with an emphasis on ALS treatments.
10:30am to 11:30am
Whole Blood--a LifeFlight Experience
Dr. Matthew Poremba | Allegheny Health Network
CONED: 1.0 Clinical Patient Care
SPONSORED BY Allegheny Health Network
Trauma resuscitation has been focusing on a blood first resuscitation. The days of utilizing saline for trauma resuscitation are behind us. However, how does whole blood stack up in trauma resuscitation? Is it worth all the hype? Is this the holy grail for trauma patients? This session is appropriate for all EMS levels.
Medical Devices and Implants for Emergency Providers
Dr. Nicholas von Foerster | University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
CONED: 1.0 Clinical Patient Care
SPONSORED BY Penn Care Inc
We discuss the most common devices encountered in prehospital settings, specifically pacemakers, AICD's (automatic implanted cardioverter-defibrillators), vagal nerve stimulators, and insulin pumps. You will gain a basic understanding of their function, associated physiology, and implications for emergency care. We discuss the indications for the various devices, the patient physiology you can expect if someone has the device, basic device components, common malfunctions, and how to approach field and emergency assessment and management of both the patient and device. This session is appropriate for all EMS levels.
11:45am to 12:45pm
Tackling OB & GYN Emergencies From a First Time Mom's Perspective
Dr. Rickquel Tripp | UPMC Prehospital Care
CONED: 1.0 Clinical Patient Care
SPONSORED BY AHN LifeFlight
Learning about normal birth delivery and how to deal with perinatal and postpartum complications. Understanding the up-to-date treatments and recommendations for preeclampsia, eclampsia, peri-mortem C-sections, and more. This session is appropriate for all EMS levels.
1:15pm to 2:15pm
Closest Trauma Center Matters - Achieving Zero Preventable Deaths
Mike Taramelli | Forbes Hospital
CONED: 1.0 Clinical Patient Care
SPONSORED BY Allegheny Health Network
In order to achieve zero preventable deaths, we must control life-threatening hemorrhage as quickly as possible. Efforts such as widespread utilization of tourniquets and Stop the Bleed education help, however, further focus needs to be made to ensure the severely injured trauma patient does not die from a preventable death. Putting the emphasis back on external hemorrhage control, ABC's and rapid transfer to the nearest trauma center can help achieve zero preventable deaths. This session is appropriate for all EMS levels.
Vaccine Preventable Diseases You Can Get on a Run
Dr. Andrew Nowalk | UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh
CONED: 1.0 Clinical Patient Care
SPONSORED BY Excela Health
We review the growing importance of vaccine-preventable disease in prehospital care in the United States. Recognition of important disease such as measles, pertussis and influenza is a key component of good patient care and provider safety. This session will review the data on vaccine effectiveness and provide up to date information on presentations of diseases and appropriate management, from PPE to vaccination to prehospital recognition and stabilization. This session is appropriate for all EMS levels.
2:30pm to 3:30pm
Bring Your Best
Dr. James Green | STAT MedEvac
CONED: 1.0 Other
At some point it happens to us all, we drift. Drift is the slow, gradual creep away from our best selves, our best performance. We still deliver competent care, but it becomes average care, missing the spark and the energy that you brought to your calls years ago. Drift makes you average and leads to complacency. Complacency kills. Turn it around. Bring your best. This program provides an attitude tune up with practical skills in communication, assessment, and treatment to immediately use in the field. This session is appropriate for all EMS levels.
Should They Stay or Should They Go?: Changing Role in EMS Transport
Dr. Christian Martin-Gill | University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
CONED: 1.0 Other
SPONSORED BY ImageTrend
Non-transports (including refusals of care) are among the highest risk events for EMS personnel. They have also been a source of financial loss for EMS agencies due to lack of payment for services. A new law in Pennsylvania is changing the way we are thinking of non-transports and the future of EMS practice for patients who choose to stay home after initial emergency care or who may benefit from transport to alternate destinations. This session will review the latest efforts to improve our handling of non-transports and the potential to transport to alternate destinations. We will identify critical tips for documentation to minimize legal risk, improve the quality of medical care, and ensure your agency is able to receive payment for services when patients are not transported to the hospital. This session is appropriate for all EMS levels.
3:45pm to 4:45pm
Non-Accidental Trauma in the Pediatric Patient
Dr. Christopher Stem | UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh
CONED: 1.0 Clinical Patient Care
SPONSORED BY Quick Med Claims
Twenty to thirty percent of children who died from abuse and neglect had previously been evaluated by medical providers for abusive injuries that were not recognized as abuse. You can save a child's life by recognizing sentinel injuries This session is appropriate for all EMS levels.
Boots on the Ground: Peers Helping Peers
Dr. Sheila Roth | Carlow University
CONED: 1.0 Clinical Patient Care
SPONSORED BY ImageTrend
Have you ever wondered how to talk to a co-worker who seems to be having a bad day, a bad week, or going through a bad life event? We teach you what to say when times get tough. The skills of helping a co-worker through a difficult time are not so different from responding to an EMS call. This session is appropriate for all EMS levels.
6:00pm to 7:00pm
Narcan or Narcan't: Controversies in Overdose Management
Dr. Jason Kodat | UPMC Cole
CONED: 1.0 Clinical Patient Care
SPONSORED BY Conemaugh MedStar/Air Methods
Is Naloxone a miracle medication or demon drug? The truth lies somewhere in between, but the devil is in the details. With this session, get a refresher on Naloxone's pharmacology and what its potential best use might be. An added bonus is an analysis of more than seventy events in which first responders were given naloxone--is there really a danger of incidental exposure? This session is appropriate for all EMS levels.