Brandon Means

Brandon Means is Pulsara's Senior Vice President - Sales. Brandon started his EMS career in 2002 as a firefighter and paramedic and shortly after became a flight paramedic. He has also worked as an EMS educator, an ICU charge nurse, and a flight nurse. Brandon maintains double board certifications in critical care and flight nursing and recently obtained his B.S. in Nursing at Texas A&M University.

Brandon Means

Brandon Means

Brandon Means is Pulsara's Senior Vice President - Sales. Brandon started his EMS career in 2002 as a firefighter and paramedic and shortly after became a flight paramedic. He has also worked as an EMS educator, an ICU charge nurse, and a flight nurse. Brandon maintains double board certifications in critical care and flight nursing and recently obtained his B.S. in Nursing at Texas A&M University.

Recent posts by Brandon Means

5 min read

Large Vessel Occlusion Strokes: How to Assess LVO Patients

By Brandon Means on Jun 04, 2021

Large Vessel Occlusion (LVO) strokes are considered to be one of the most severe types of strokes. As with all other stroke types, rapid treatment is key. Mechanical thrombectomy is now the accepted standard of care for treating LVO, meaning that it's critical to take the patient to an interventional-capable facility as quickly as possible—even if that means taking them somewhere further away than the closest available hospital. Time is of the essence; are you up to speed on what to look for when assessing for LVO? 

Topics: Stroke EMS Progressive Paramedicine
5 min read

The EMS Patient Care Report: 3 Essential Elements of a Great Report

By Brandon Means on May 28, 2021

The patient care report is one of the most crucial parts of a call. This is your chance to give the hospital a brief report about your patient and let them know that you're on your way, giving them time to prepare for your arrival. Typically, though, you have to deliver your report in the midst of a chaotic scene, and things are equally as hectic at the hospital. What information is essential to communicate to the hospital before arrival?

Topics: EMS Progressive Paramedicine
4 min read

Cutting-Edge Medic: 3 Reasons Why You Should Never Stop Learning

By Brandon Means on May 14, 2021

As a medic, you never know what your next call could be. Of all healthcare providers, your job is often the most unpredictable. Some types of calls are much more straightforward than others...and sometimes, the ones you might have less experience on—such as pediatric or OB-GYN calls—can be nerve-wracking. How do you turn the calls that scare you into calls you feel confident heading into? 

Pulsara's Vice President - Medical OPS, Brandon Means, teamed up with EMS1 to produce an original video series of critical paramedicine tips and techniques, called Progressive Paramedic. In this week's video and blog post, we throwback to Brandon's paramedic days as he reviews the three reasons why it's important to be a lifelong learner in EMS. Check it out below!

Topics: EMS Evidence-Based Guidelines Progressive Paramedicine
5 min read

Airway Management: Why and When to Manage a Patient's Airway

By Brandon Means on May 07, 2021

Airway management is the set of procedures and techniques medical professionals use to ensure that a patient's breathing pathway does not become obstructed if at risk or to clear the airway if already obstructed. It is a critical, life-saving skill all medics must be well-versed in. 

But when should you manage a patient's airway? And why should you do it one way vs. another way?

Pulsara's Vice President for the Western Region, Brandon Means, teamed up with EMS1 to produce an original video series of critical paramedicine tips and techniques, called Progressive Paramedic. In this week's video and blog post, we throw back to Brandon's paramedic days as hereviews the three indications that a patient needs their airway managed. Check it out below!

Topics: EMS Emergency Medicine Progressive Paramedicine
3 min read

Putting a [Pit] Stop to Bottlenecks in Healthcare Communication

By Brandon Means on Feb 05, 2021

What do EMS and hospital care teams have in common with NASCAR drivers?

Quite a bit, as it turns out. The success or failure of both hinges on one thing: time. 

It might surprise even dedicated fans to learn that all of the cars on the track are limited to the same top speed and horsepower range. With this being the case, how can it be that there is such a large disparity between first and last place?

The answer: The race is won and lost during the pit stop.

Topics: Stroke STEMI Coordinators' Corner Sepsis Trauma Time Sensitive Emergencies Connected Teams
2 min read

The Critical Role EMS Plays in Stroke Patient Survival [New Data]

By Brandon Means on Jan 19, 2017

We’ve known for a while now that when EMS providers are properly trained, they perform at a high level when it comes to treating and assessing patients. For example, past studies have shown that paramedics who had formal training in identifying STEMI on a 12-lead ECG could do so with the same level of proficiency as most ED Physicians (1). The same goes for identifying stroke. A similar study showed that paramedics were on par with ED physicians when it comes to identifying stroke using simple stroke scales such as the CPSS or FAST (2). 

Topics: Stroke EMS
2 min read

The “Pit Crew” Approach to Endovascular Therapy for Large Vessel Strokes: A Success Story

By Brandon Means on Aug 04, 2016


We all know that for any complex problem, there is rarely a simple solution. Endovascular stroke, with its many moving parts, is no exception. Trying to mobilize multiple disciplines and processes simultaneously (like a pit crew does in a NASCAR race) during one of the most time-sensitive emergencies is no easy task. But, as you may remember from a previous blog post I wrote, 
parallel processing of tasks is a key element to reducing treatment times.

Topics: Stroke
2 min read

Consensus Definitions of Sepsis and Septic Shock: Agree to Disagree!

By Brandon Means on Apr 20, 2016

Defining Sepsis and Septic shock has been a hot topic since 1991, when the first definitions and clinical criteria for these conditions were published. After Emmanuel Rivers published “Early Goal-Directed Therapy in the Treatment of Severe Sepsis and Septic Shock” in 2001, the Surviving Sepsis campaign kicked off, significantly increasing awareness of Sepsis.

Topics: Sepsis