MERGINET.News: Your mid-March issue is now online!

["Richard Bilger" <rbilger@merginet.com>]

We're pleased to bring you the latest additions to
MERGINET.News (Vol. 6, No. 3). You can view this
issue online at:

http://www.merginet.com
Select "MERGINET.News" or "Current Issue" from
the navigation menu's.

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FROM THE EDITOR:
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Your menu at MERGINET.News has something for everyone. Click on
the site to find two new features, five updated columns, and two
more offerings in the all-new Management Matters section.

The ever-popular Mona Vanek shares the transition signaled by her
retirement from her rural, volunteer EMS corps. It’s sure to make
any field provider think twice about this special work of
emergency care - and the colleagues with whom we share so much.
Our editorial intern, Tonya Schafer, has written a very
informative feature about a new organization, the National Center
for Early Defibrillation.

In our columns, you’ll find Part II of “If You’re Coming Here, We
Can’t Take You” in Law Bytes, where Steve Wirth discusses
enforcement of EMTALA. (If you missed Part I, it’s still on-site
for another two weeks.) John Mateus is discovering hidden costs
of the new CPR guidelines. The NAEMD tells how a dispatcher
should handle calls for febrile seizures. And Karen Thurlow,
whose job usually involves helping people with needle sticks,
shares her dreadful experience of being the one stuck.

In Management Matters, John Becknell and Lauren Simon Ostrow
describe “FISDAP” - curious what that means? Go check out the
site. It’s a clever concept! Also, Donald Wetmore describes five
steps to more productive meetings.

As always, there’s something for you at MERGINET, your original
“Worldwide Website of Emergency Responders”! Please take time,
any time, to send Reader Feedback. We answer everyone, and always
appreciate your thoughts, ideas, and compliments!

Welcome to March, 2001!
Your editor, Kate Dernocoeur

################## SPECIAL ALERT! ###################
WE NEED YOUR HELP! -- EMS Pain Management Survey
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We've teamed up with the Mobile Healthcare Forum to assist them
in the collection of data on EMS Pain Management. This survey
is sponsored by a company working in the area of analgesics/
sedatives for use in EMS. They are asking for your help in better
understanding how to improve patient care and the tools available
for use by EMS in pain management. It is estimated that
completion
of the survey form will take approximately 15-20 minutes, not
including any time that might be required to retrieve information
you may not have immediate knowledge of. In return, the sponsor
is offering an incentive of a $25 AND an EMS screensaver.

                Click here to help us with this survey.
                         http://www.mhf.net/pain/

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New in this issue!

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Features
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>> The Rapid Defibrillation Movement
by Tonya Schafer
Since January 2000, the National Center for Early Defibrillation
(NCED) has worked to ensure that automated external
defibrillators (AEDs) are not only placed in public buildings
across the nation, but are also consistently used by police
officers, fire fighters, and trained lay people in the first
crucial minutes before emergency responders arrive to guarantee
that victims of sudden cardiac arrest need not face an automatic
death sentence.


>> When Stepdown Occurs
by Mona Leeson Vanek
April Fool's Day 2001 was when I'd planned to say adieu,
officially stepping down from 12 years of volunteer ambulance
service. I wasn't supposed to quit earlier, but the pain
relentlessly throbbing in my arm kept me from renewing my
CPR...The ache in my heart is greater, though. Saying goodbye to
a terrific crew is a wrenching experience.

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Medic Life
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>> Infection Control Today: My Personal Encounter with a
Needlestick — by Karen Thurlow
As I threw the butterfly needle into the sharps container, I felt
a small prick. Could it be? Did I just receive an exposure as a
result of my job? I pulled off the glove to examine my index
finger. Sure enough, I was bleeding. Several emotions went
through my mind, from denial to disbelief.


################# NEW SECTION! ###################
Announcing the MERGINET READER-ONLY SPECIALS!
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We are pleased to announce the Grand Opening of our online
reader-only specials section powered by Moore Medical. This
fantastic new resource allows our readers a first-hand
opportunity to purchase products that have been discounted or
placed on sale by Moore Medical. Look for new products each
week to be listed in this new section of our Shopping category.
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                               SAVE BIG BUCKS!
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Educators Corner
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>> The Cost of the New CPR Guidelines — by John Mateus
If you're a training coordinator, everything about the year 2000
CPR guidelines changes probably has you somewhat conflicted. You
are happy to have new material to teach. You are excited to offer
students updated and more effective techniques. You are eager to
begin teaching the new science. And you are thinking, "What is
this going to cost me?"

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Columns
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>> Cool It! Should Febrile Seizures be Treated with Tepid
Sponging? — by Malcolm Woollard & Karen Pitt
This article explores the common experience of that
often-frightened caller when the patient is experiencing a
febrile seizure, and the well-intentioned dispatcher's desire to
treat such a patient. Surely there are few things as
unpredictable as a parent's reaction to a child in obvious
distress. No matter where the crisis occurs, it's a safe bet that
the caller will be very upset, perhaps hysterical, and very
demanding of the EMD.

>> Peeking over the Fence — by Don Hunjadi
Who's that faceless voice at the dispatch center who tells you
about a new call? Conversely, who's that EMT who takes your
information and runs with it? Many field responders have no idea
what goes on in a dispatch center — and many dispatchers have no
idea what happens on an emergency scene.

>> Law Bytes: If You're Coming Here, We Can't Take You! Part
Two — by Steve Wirth
The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act of 1986,
commonly known as EMTALA or the Anti-Dumping Law, was intended to
prevent hospitals from "dumping" indigent patients. The law is
there to protect all patients, though, and not just the indigent.

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Management Matters
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>> For Administrators: Using the Internet to Track Employee
Performance — by Lauren Simon Ostrow and John Becknell
EMS organizations may soon be benchmarking their quality on the
Internet. An Internet-based software tool originally designed to
track paramedic students and field internships is now used to
monitor the quality of paramedic and EMT performance on the
street.

>> Five Steps to a Productive Meeting — by Dr. Donald E. Wetmore
It is said that on an average day in the United States, there
will be 17 million meetings. It makes you wonder how anything
gets done!

More online!

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