By Jason Gilliam, NEMSQA For 25 years, I’ve dedicated my career in EMS to enhancing patient care, often grappling with what seems like a fundamental challenge: why is something so basic so difficult to master consistently? | Get your copy: What paramedics want in 2025: From chronic burnout and staffing gaps to a lack of…

Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) is characterized by severe shortness of breath and a rapid heart rate, often accompanied by cough, fever, chest pain and bluish lips or fingernails caused by low O2 levels. ARDS can be triggered by direct injuries to the lung such as pneumonia, aspiration, smoke inhalation or blunt trauma, as well…

Opioid-induced Respiratory Depression (OIRD), usually caused by opioid use or post-operative complications from anesthesia, occurs when the opioids desensitize the brain stem to rises in CO2, which can rapidly lead to full-blown respiratory failure. Given the growing number of 911 calls due to opioid abuse and subsequent respiratory arrest, it is critical that EMS providers…

Capnography monitors CO2 removal during breathing and provides a breath-by breath assessment of the patient’s ventilatory status. Although the numeric etCO2 value is important, the waveform is equally important. US-PM-2200483 Share Your Capno Story With Us Do you have a story about how capnography made a difference? Share your story with us and we may…

Clinical pearls of pharmacological restraints Advanced airway equipment and cardiac monitoring must be available if a patient is to be given chemical restraints. If a patient’s respiratory status declines, ALS providers must be able and willing to take over the airway to prevent hypoxia. The decision to provide prehospital agitation management involves heavy consideration of…

For this segment, we will discuss how skin pigmentation influences the amount detectable light available to the pulse oximetry sensor. To help provide insight into this topic is Jake Dove, PhD, Senior Principal R&D Engineer at Medtronic. The Nellcor™ pulse oximetry monitoring system should not be used as the sole basis for diagnosis or therapy…

In cases of lower airway obstruction resulting from bronchospasm, respiratory rate may vary, but it is generally greater than 20 breaths per minute and is often accompanied by a reduced tidal volume. Possible causes of lower airway obstruction can include asthma, allergy, COPD, emphysema, bronchitis, or pulmonary edema. Learn more in this video. US-PM-2200571 Share…

Greg Friese, EMS1 Editor-in-Chief EMS1.com Columnists What are the causes of the patient’s distress and what treatments are indicated? The incident: Patient is weak and dizzy What happened: You are called for a 60-year-old that is “weak and dizzy” and may have passed out. You and your partner find the patient seated on the porch…

Inserting an endotracheal tube into the trachea remains a critical component in the standard of care in airway management. If you’ve ever wondered why the little hole near the tip of an endotracheal tube is called the Murphy Eye, or who Macintosh was, or even who performed the first intubation, this quick trip through the…

By Sean Hulsman Airway control is a basic tenet of EMS care, but experienced providers know that controlling an airway is anything but basic. Difficult airways are encountered often, and the prehospital setting is rarely conducive to controlled airway management and proper patient positioning. Read Ventilating difficult airways in the field and take this quiz…