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3 min read

Frontline Warriors: How Nurses are Saving the World

By Angie Cunningham on May 12, 2021

Happy International Nurses Day! Acknowledging the dedication of nurses across the globe seems a fitting way to round out Nurses Week 2021. Through my nearly three decades as a nurse, I cannot recall a time when the recognition of hard work, sacrifice, and commitment nurses exhibit daily has ever been so publicly promoted as it has throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. From media stories on nurses giving up their full-time positions to travel to regions hit hardest with COVID-19 to assist their peers—to the WHO designating 2020 The Year of the Nurse—to community members rallying to celebrate and support hospital staff as they enter and leave their shifts, a greater awareness of the complexities of the nursing profession has emerged.

As stated by ICN President Annette Kennedy, “Politicians understand the cost of educating and maintaining a professional nursing workforce, but only now are many of them recognizing their true value.” While no one enters into nursing for notoriety or recognition, it is well deserved and greatly appreciated.

Topics: Healthcare Emergency Medicine nursing
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

Loss & Burnout: Covid-19’s Impact on Emergency Physicians [Survey Results]

By Kinsie Clarkson on Feb 03, 2021

This past year has been a rough one for many, but perhaps none more so than the courageous physicians, nurses, EMS providers, and healthcare workers who have put their own safety on the line in order to help take care of COVID-19 patients.

Topics: Emergency Medicine COVID-19 Wellness
3 min read

Five Ways We Strive to Improve the Lives of ED Nurses Through Innovative Communication

By Shane Elmore, RN on Nov 20, 2019

In my opinion, if there is any group in the hospital who doesn't get the love they deserve, it's the ED Nurses. ED Nurses are the front door of the hospital, but too often, they are treated as the doormat. When people are sick and hurting, they take it out on the people in front of them (as long as they aren't wearing a white coat). The ED nurse is the person who takes what comes at them and still provides the highest level of care and compassion for the patient. ED nurse, you are the first line of defense, and here at Pulsara, we salute you. Here are five areas where we're doing our best to help make your job a little easier and ultimately, improve your life and the lives of those you serve:

Topics: Communication Emergency Medicine
2 min read

Pulsara Platform Selected as EMS World Innovation Award Finalist for New EMS Handoff Feature

By Hannah Ostrem on Oct 11, 2019

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 11, 2019

PRESS CONTACT
Hannah Ostrem
Hannah.Ostrem@pulsara.com
(877) 903-5642

The feature is the first of its kind to give first responders a dedicated platform to communicate with other out-of-hospital care providers and hospitals in real time.

Bozeman, Mont. — Pulsara is excited to announce that the company has been selected as a Finalist by a 4-person judging panel for the 2019 EMS World Expo Innovation Award.

 Pulsara connects care teams across organizations and their latest innovative feature to be nominated for the award is their new EMS handoff feature. Whereas EMS providers have historically had workflows to hand off patients to hospital teams in Pulsara, First Responders now have the ability to start a case and hand off the patient to an EMS crew.

Topics: EMS Healthcare Press Communication Emergency Medicine Innovation Regional Systems of Care Awards
12 min read

How Do Providers and Leaders Perceive EMS? [2018 EMS Trend Report Part 1]

By Team Pulsara on Jul 31, 2018

EDITOR'S NOTE: Last week, EMS1, Fitch & Associates, and the National EMS Management Association released their third annual EMS Trend Report, proudly sponsored by Pulsara. Because the articles and advice found within contain such critical subject matter, we've elected to publish each segment one at a time here on our blog. Read, enjoy, share, and take to heart the following information brought to you by the most prestigious thought leaders in EMS. 

About the authors: Jay Fitch, PhD, is a founding partner of Fitch & Associates, and has spent more than four decades serving the EMS community as a leader, author, speaker, educator and consultant. Guillermo Fuentes, MBA, is the Fitch & Associates partner specializing in communications and technology. He previously served in operations and leadership roles in public safety in Montreal and the Niagara region of Ontario.

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EMS is at a critical juncture in its maturation, and it is the perception and attitude of those who work in the industry that will impact the future. Culture change can only happen if leaders recognize it’s needed, and the profession takes concerted efforts to make it happen.

Topics: EMS Healthcare Communication Emergency Medicine Technology
6 min read

Specialty Team Activation: 10 Things You Need to Know to Save Lives

By Hannah Ostrem on Mar 30, 2018

Understand the capabilities of specialty teams in your region and how to activate them to save lives.

 

EDITOR'S NOTE: Special thanks to our guest blogger, Bob Sullivan. Bob Sullivan, MS, NRP, is a paramedic instructor at Delaware Technical Community College. He has been in EMS since 1999, and has worked as a paramedic in private, fire-based, volunteer, and municipal EMS services, and is an ally to Pulsara. Contact info for Bob can be found on his blog, The EMS Patient Perspective.

 This post originally appeared on EMS1.com. Enjoy!

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A regional, multidisciplinary team approach to time-critical injuries and illnesses is proven to save lives. EMS plays an important role in transporting patients to the most appropriate facility and alerting in-hospital teams before arrival. Here are 10 things you need to know about systems of care and team activation:

Topics: Healthcare Emergency Medicine
11 min read

10 Things to Know to Improve Pediatric Out-Of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Survival in Your Community

By Team Pulsara on Sep 06, 2017

EDITOR'S NOTE: The following content originally appeared on EMS1.com as paid content sponsored by Pulsara. Special thanks to our guest blogger, Peter Antevy, MD.

Follow these 10 steps when treating pediatric cardiac arrest to save lives.

Easy problems have easy answers – complex problems require complex answers.  However, in pediatrics, we’ve taken an easy problem and made it unnecessarily complicated. Pediatric resuscitation isn’t that complex (BVM – compressions – Epi), yet over the last 3 decades we’ve been convinced otherwise.  Why? Many have focused on one thing – getting the child’s weight.  We’ve been convinced that a single tool or widget will get us through a difficult pediatric call.  It’s time to change this mentality. 

Topics: EMS Emergency Medicine
3 min read

How a Small Miscommunication Nearly Cost a Life: A Firsthand Account

By Shane Elmore, RN on Aug 30, 2017

 

If you've been following our blog for any amount of time now, you've heard us refer to the "communication crisis" in healthcare. Occasionally, those of us who work for Pulsara have the opportunity to experience first-hand how the crisis impacts care teams and their patients. This is part one of two posts on an up-close-and-personal encounter I had just last week. I hope you enjoy!

On a recent business trip, I was hospitalized and had to have surgery. I chose the hospital on the suggestion of my Uber driver, since neither hospital in town was a customer of ours, and I really knew nothing about either.  The experience that followed gave a perfect example of how miscommunication mixed with a lack of accountability can have a negative impact on patients.

Topics: Communication Emergency Medicine
5 min read

The Future of Healthcare Is Mobile

By James Woodson, MD on Aug 18, 2017

Healthcare systems must continue to adopt mobile-friendly platforms to meet users' expectations and offer high-quality care.

Many industries have overhauled their businesses to meet consumers’ expectations of using their mobile devices to do everything from checking in for a flight to ordering takeout food. The healthcare industry has been slower to adopt mobile-friendly platforms, but it is increasingly doing so to meet patients’ and health professionals’ needs. But simply taking current methods of communication and putting them on smartphones is not sufficient — platforms must capitalize on the many advantages mobile technology offers in order to truly transform and improve healthcare.

**This post is an excerpt from our eBook, "It's About Time: Addressing the Communication Crisis in Emergency Medicine." Download the full eBook here!**

Topics: Stroke STEMI EMS Emergency Medicine
2 min read

Versatility of Mobile Communciation Can Help Prevent Medical Errors

By James Woodson, MD on Aug 10, 2017

Researchers find a significant number of communication failures at hospitals. Could they be contributing to preventable patient deaths and disability?

A study in Toronto found that over a two-month period, 14 percent of all pages went to the wrong physician and nearly half of those were emergent or urgent communications.

A study that examined communication failures at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and the Toronto General Hospital in Toronto, Canada, found that over a two-month period, 14 percent of pages were sent to the wrong physician.[12] That’s an estimated 4,300 misdirected pages each year—half of which are related to emergency or urgent matters.

Topics: EMS Emergency Medicine
4 min read

Provider Teamwork Can Lead to Better Patient Outcomes

By James Woodson, MD on Aug 03, 2017

Physician collaboration is associated with fewer patient deaths, readmissions, and emergency room visits.

A study of patients who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) found that when physicians collaborated more, patients had a 24 percent lower rate of emergency room visits and hospital readmissions, and a 28 percent lower rate of death.[10]

**This post is an excerpt from our eBook, "It's About Time: Addressing the Communication Crisis in Emergency Medicine." Download the full eBook here!**

Physician groups that worked more closely together in caring for patients who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) procedures were able to produce better patient outcomes, according to recent research.[11] The study examined claims data for 251,630 patients who underwent CABG between 2008 and 2011; the patients received care from 466,243 physicians across more than a thousand health systems. At 60 days post-procedure, patients treated by physician teams with higher levels of cooperation had:

Topics: Stroke STEMI EMS Communication Emergency Medicine
3 min read

When things go wrong: Medical Error a Leading Cause of Death

By James Woodson, MD on Jun 29, 2017

Research suggests that medical errors play an even bigger role in preventable deaths in U.S. hospitals than previously estimated, and 80 percent of all serious medical errors involve miscommunication. That amounts to 250,000 - 400,000 deaths every year in the U.S. Tools that help medical professionals communicate more quickly, accurately, and collaboratively are critical to saving lives. 

More than fifteen years ago, the Institute of Medicine released a groundbreaking report on the incidence of medical errors in U.S. hospitals. The report suggested as many as 98,000 people die every year from medical errors.[1] Recent analysis from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine says that report may have significantly underestimated the problem, putting the actual number closer to 250,000 - 400,000.[2] In fact, medical error is now considered the third leading cause of death in the U.S.

Topics: Stroke STEMI EMS Communication Emergency Medicine