MERGINET's April 18th Update Now On the Net

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

We're pleased to bring you the latest additions to
MERGINET.News (Vol. 6, No. 4). You can view this
issue online at:

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

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FROM THE EDITOR:
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Click onto MERGINET.News and see what’s cookin’ this month. Raina
Dodson is on a mission to help emergency providers in
frontier/rural areas. Those services are on the proverbial ropes,
and YOU can help! Read her story, link to her data-gathering
survey (http://www.merginet.com/index-survey.htm), and check out
the sidebar showing ways you can write to your representatives
and otherwise get involved.

You’ll find two other excellent features, too. Keith Wesley
presents a wonderful overview on pain and how we can help
minimize it. Todd Talbert offers a look at handling patient
refusals effectively and safely.

Katherine West writes about “Unprotected CPR” and Law Bytes helps
you be prepared in case your service becomes the target of an
official investigation. NAEMD looks over the Febrile Seizure
issue from a new point of view, John Mateus talks about
“Adjuncts,” and Don Hunjadi tells you why it could be fun to
recruit a friend into our “interesting” world of emergency care.
Management Matters turns to purchasing ambulances (Part 2) and
that dreadful trait: procrastination.

All in all, we feel this issue of MERGINET.News has something for
everyone. Come to MERGINET (the original “Worldwide Website of
Emergency Responders”). Please take time to fill out Raina’s
survey. And don’t be shy about sending us your Reader Feedback.
We write back to everyone, and always appreciate your thoughts,
ideas, and compliments.

Welcome to the second edition for April, 2001!
Your editor, Kate Dernocoeur

################## ONLINE SURVEY ###################
        Frontier EMS Needs Your Help: EMS Provider Survey!
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Frontier EMS is in critical condition. All EMS providers can
help.
Support U.S. Senate Bill #587 (see "Good Job!" in this weeks
edition  of Sharps), and if you live in a rural/frontier area,
fill out
the survey in this release of MERGINET. Information gathered will
be used to augment an EMS need statement to state and federal
legislatures. The deadline for data collection is July 30, 2001.
The more input, the better the argument.

                Click here to help us with this survey.
            http://www.merginet.com/index-survey.htm

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New in this issue!

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Features
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>> Frontier EMS: Crisis at the Remotest Crossroads
by Raina Dodson
Imagine a two-car MVA in a county far in west Texas. It's 118
degrees F, with no hint of wind and not a cloud in the sky. Your
non-profit ambulance is the only one on duty in the town of
Presidio. You arrive to find six victims, including four
children, most with moderate to severe trauma.

>> Refusing Aid
by Todd Talbert
When a patient refuses treatment or transport from on-scene EMS
personnel, many difficult situations can arise that place either
the patient or the involved paramedic at risk. One of the most
reliable records of what has transpired during a
paramedic-patient contact is subsequent documentation on the
associated Patient Care Report (aka PCR or run sheet).

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Medic Life
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>> Fears and Facts: Disease Transmission Related to Unprotected
CPR
by Katherine West
The question of the risk for disease transmission, especially
bloodborne pathogens, has been raised over and over again. A sad
example of this appeared on a recent Dateline program ("Bridge
Rescue," February 12, 2001) that showed actual footage of an EMS
crew failing to do mouth-to-mouth because of "universal
precautions."


################# 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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>> Adjuncts, Adjuncts, Adjuncts
by John Mateus
As emergency care instructors, we teach life-saving skills in
many different settings. Some of the most interesting facets of
training are dealing with so many different groups with so many
knowledge levels. At times, people will look to their instructor
to make a recommendation about what materials or equipment they
should use. Making proper recommendations is difficult unless the
instructor is up to date on the current materials and supplies on
the market. Here are a few variables instructors should keep in
mind.

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Columns
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>> Pain! Understanding and Treating It
by Keith Wesley, MD, FACEP
The International Association of Pain defines pain as "a sensory
or emotional process associated with tissue damage. Acute pain,
such as that which occurs in trauma, alerts the patient to the
presence of harmful or potentially harmful stimuli." Well duh! So
what does that mean to you and what emergency responders can do
about it?

>> Law Bytes: Who's That at the Door? What to Do if You Are Under
Investigation
by Douglas M. Wolfberg
Dark suits. Badges. Guns. Subpoenas. A knock on your door. They
look sort of like the Blues Brothers, only a bit skinnier and
more serious. Your ambulance service is under investigation, and
you are being asked to step aside while officers collect your
records. This can happen to private, public, non-profit, and
volunteer ambulance services. You sit helplessly while the
government carts off boxes of documents. What do you do?

>> Commentary on Seizures: Look to the MPDS
by Brett Patterson
Last month, MERGINET.News ran an article from the Journal of the
National Academy of EMD titled: "Cool It! Should Febrile Seizures
be Treated with Tepid Sponging?" Guest writers Malcolm Woollard
and Karen Pitt, with the Welsh Ambulance Service in the U.K.,
shed some light on the important subject of febrile seizure
treatment from a Dispatch Life Support perspective. Their
research illustrates an important "evidence-based" perspective
regarding proper application of the Medical Priority Dispatch
System (MPDS) protocols.

>> Recruit a Friend
by Don Hunjadi
Finding prospective EMTs for a full-time service generally isn't
a difficult task. Finding that next paid on-call person or
volunteer may be another story. In many cases, finding the right
individuals can be a lofty goal for any service.

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Management Matters
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>> For Operations: Ambulance Purchasing Part II: Finding a Best
Practice and the Throwaway Ambulance
by Lauren Simon Ostrow and John Becknell
As we mentioned last month, most ambulance buyers choose one of
three options when purchasing ambulances: Throw away the old
ambulance when it's worn out and buy a new one, remount the old
ambulance box on a new chassis or sell the old ambulance before i
t's worn out and buy a new one. In Part I, we discussed the
throwaway ambulance. Now, we will look at the other options.

>> Procrastination Pointers
by Dr. Donald E. Wetmore
Procrastination is one of the biggest enemies of personal
productivity. Thinking about doing something and planning to do
it are great, but what if we fail to move ahead? Procrastinating
over the unimportant items in our day is a useful talent. The
problem, however, is when we also procrastinate over the
important and crucial items in our day, reducing personal
productivity and increasing stress levels.

More online!

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MERGINET.News Online!
Click here: http://www.MERGINET.com/index-news.htm

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education and fun to the all in EMS, Fire, Rescue and Emergency
Medicine. Updated daily.
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