News from the EMS Consortium Summer 2011

Graduations:

Kari Peterson and Drew Harrell both graduated from the one-year EMS fellowship on June 30th. Kari has relocated with her family to Boise, Idaho. Her contributions to the program over the past year are greatly appreciated and she will be missed. We wish her well in her new position. Drew Harrell has accepted a faculty position here in our Department and will continue as a primary member of the EMS Consortium.

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New Fellow:

We are pleased to welcome Danniel Stites, MD (yes, there really are two n’s) as our new EMS fellow for 2011/2012. Danniel was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona. He attended the University of Arizona and received a BS degree in Physiological Sciences. He graduated medical school from Ponce School of Medicine in Ponce, Puerto Rico. Following medical school he completed his residency in Emergency Medicine at New York Hospital Queens in New York City. Dr. Stites began his work in EMS as a medical student when he worked with the Phoenix Fire Department. During his emergency medicine residency Dr. Stites worked with the Fire Department of New York and extensively with the ambulance service of New York Hospital Queens. After a busy orientation month he is now and taking first call and will be a man-about-town in one of the Consortium Suburbans, MD-2.

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Grant!

We just received notice of a generous award from the New Mexico Trauma System Fund Authority that will help offset our operating expenses. We would like to thank the Secretary of Health, all the members of the committee, the EMS Bureau, EMS Region 1 and everyone that wrote letters on our behalf.

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Drugs (mean lifesaving medications)

After all the usual bureaucratic hurdles, the Consortium Field Response Program finally has its pharmacy license. Each suburban has an impressive drug box including medications for RSI/Airway management. We are not carrying controlled substances at this time.

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On the web:

You can find more information about the EMS Consortium, EMS Fellowship, our faculty and the Field Response Program on the web via links on the EMS Academy home page. http://hsc.unm.edu/som/emsacad/index.shtml

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Walk Rounds:

Monthly EMS walk rounds at UNM will resume on; August 30th 2-4 pm, September 19th 2-4 pm October 24th 2-4 pm, after October walkrounds will be every 3rd monday 2-4 pm. We will meet in the Conference Room down in the ER.

Please notify your agency EMS supervisor if you are interested in attending. You are welcome to attend off-duty (in uniform please) though most agencies are unable to pay you for your time. But we offer our winning smiles, endless education and CME as compensation!

New email address: unmemsconsortium@gmail.com

You may use this email to request patient follow-up and general questions. Our EMS fellows will check this email account regularly. You may also email your Medical Director or whichever doc was involved in the case directly.

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Las Conchas Fire:

The Consortium was proud to be able to assist at the Las Conchas fire. Search Google for “UNM EMS Consortium Las Conchas Fire” for press release.

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New Contracts:

As of July 1st the Consortium will be providing medical direction to the New Mexico State Police including their TEMS, EMD, AED and Narcan programs. Dr. Darren Braude will serve as the Medical Director with assistance from the entire Consortium faculty and fellow.

??? Frequently Asked Questions ???

Is it true you can do RSI in the field?

Yes, we now carry RSI drugs as well as a video laryngoscope. Whenever possible we will let an on-scene medic do the actual intubation under our supervision. Because we cover a large territory call us early if you believe advanced airway management is required and a helicopter is either impractical or unavailable.

Can we call 24 hours a day?

Yes…and no! We are available 24 hours a day for major incidents but our docs are not paid extra for taking call and often have to be back at our “real jobs” first thing in the morning. We don’t mind being woken up for critical questions or if you need us to respond to a scene but please don’t call at 2 am to ask for follow-up, for a question that most ED MCEPs could answer or just to say hi!

Remind me how to reach you?

Call Lifeguard Dispatch at 272-3115 and ask for the Consortium Doctor on-call. You will be connected directly with our cell phone. If the first-call doc does not pick up immediately the call will go directly to the second call doc. Alternatively you may try to reach us on the radio (Alarm or Firecontrol) if you know we are out and about.

Do you carry blood?

When we go on tactical deployments outside the metropolitan areas we stop and pick-up blood, time permitting.

Do you respond Code 3?

This varies. Outside of Albuquerque and for tactical call-outs we respond Code 3 on a case-by-case basis at our discretion. For EMS calls within the City of Albuquerque we respond Code 3 only when specifically requested. For that reason you may hear us on the radio contacting the responding AFD unit asking for an upgrade.

How do we get patient follow-up on interesting cases?

You may email unmemsconsortium@gmail.com anytime. During daytime hours you may also contact the on-call doc via Lifeguard Dispatch.

Do you respond to fires?

We try to respond to major fires, if available, to help with medical monitoring and rehab of firefighters and in the event of firefighter injuries.

What is the difference between MD-1 and MD-2?

Each vehicle has a designation rather than the individual doc. MD-1 is usually staffed by the on-call Faculty and MD-2 is usually the on-call Fellow.