Wes Wood

I grew up and lived most of my life in a very rural area. The majority of my EMS and ED nursing experience comes from rural settings, including a few years in a small critical access hospital. I was the only nurse in the 5-bed ER on night shift. We even locked all the doors to the hospital, and if someone presented to the ER for care, they had to ring a doorbell so I could let them in. No really—we did.

My, how times have changed with technology and medical advances. The recent COVID-19 crisis has affected virtually every healthcare professional in some form or fashion, and has potentially changed healthcare forever. Telemedicine has emerged to the forefront as a valuable option for providing care: both acute and chronic, in person, and remote. It’s gone from being a distant future option hidden behind miles of red tape to being one of the hottest topics in healthcare today.

My Grandfather (who was a very wise man) used to say “It’s a lot easier to pull a rope than push it.” Of course, as a kid I thought he had lost his mind. “Who would ever try to push a rope? It makes no sense!” 

I was right, it makes no sense. Yet, we find ourselves everyday trying to push ideas, initiatives, and process changes on others, and then we just can’t figure out why our “great ideas” don’t get off the ground.

We see this frequently in healthcare. My background is in ED Nursing and EMS, and in my roles in these fields, we pushed each other daily in efforts to get THEM to do things the way WE want them done.

Feeling all alone out there on weekends/holidays/night shifts?

You’re not the only one. Any clinician involved in care of time sensitive emergent patients has experienced the frustration of delays in care during these “off times.” Unfortunately, strokes, STEMIs and traumas do not take time off. Two recent studies (here and here) released in London and Birmingham, UK allude to how process variations have resulted in a decrease in quality of stroke care. Specifically, the quality measurement of door to needle in less than 60 minutes took a hit, and was directly linked to day of week and time of day.

Recently a coworker here at Pulsara (not mentioning any names, but thanks Kris Kaull) paid me what is probably the best compliment I’ve ever received … he called me a recovering paramedic. I didn’t know how to take it at first, but then I realized, he’s right. I guess he’s seen the signs and symptoms before.

You see, it all started just like so many others, my dream job as a teen was being a paramedic. After a couple years in college, I achieved that goal and began what was at that point, my life’s work, and I loved it right up to the very last shift.