Inside EMS

Motivating the unmotivated: How to empower your EMS workforce

“You need to set the standard; the standard starts and ends with you.”

On this week’s episode of Inside EMS, our cohosts discuss how industry leaders can motivate frontline personnel to become the best clinical version of themselves. Chris and Kelly also preview their upcoming presentations at the Star Life Rural EMS conference, touching on topics ranging from airway management to personal development and leadership in EMS.

Top quotes

• “The true measurement of leadership success is how engaged, satisfied and productive the workforce is.” — Chris Cebollero
• “When we focus on the workforce as being the most important component to the success of the organization; when the workforce grows, the organization grows.” — Chris Cebollero
• “Your vision statement is the most important document inside your organization, and it amazes me when leaders in the organization don’t know their own vision statement.” — Chris Cebollero

This episode of Inside EMS is brought to you by Lexipol, the experts in policy, training, wellness support and grants assistance for first responders and government leaders. To learn more, visit lexipol.com.

Nancy Magee: ‘Volunteerism is at the core of every civil society’

“All of EMS is volunteerism.” This week, host Chris Cebollero is joined by industry advocate and EMS1 columnist Nancy Magee to discuss the current state of volunteerism in the profession. The conversation explores how leaders can balance the demands placed on volunteers with proper recognition, support and understanding, while also being responsive to the community’s needs.

Top quotes from the episode

“Volunteering is its own reward. It really can help you in your head space, but you don't get that until you try it.” 

“People have to know that what they do made a difference. You're important to the agency. We need you and what you do every day, whether it's putting a little old lady back in her bed or recognizing that she's decompensating and not that she dropped the remote this time.”

“It has to be understood by the community that EMS costs money. And you're getting a great bang for your buck if you have competent, local, readily available volunteers.”

This episode of Inside EMS is brought to you by Lexipol, the experts in policy, training, wellness support and grants assistance for first responders and government leaders. To learn more, visit lexipol.com.

‘Ask your doctor if Ozempic is right for you’: EMS and semiglutides

This week, our Inside EMS cohosts discuss the rise in popularity of semiglutide drugs – like Ozempic – used for weight loss. Chris and Kelly discuss what providers should know about the use of these drugs, for their personal use and how complications may present in patients.

Top quotes

• "If you're using semiglutide drugs purely as your only means of weight loss, you're going to rebound." 

• “You eat at odd hours, you eat at odd intervals. You eat something nuked in a microwave at a 7/11. Those are horrific eating habits, and it teaches your body to just hoard calories and food, and you wind up gaining weight that way. There's a lot of fat people in EMS, myself included, that are proof of that.” 

• "A lot of drugs out there came on the market for something and now we're using it for something else." 

This episode of Inside EMS is brought to you by Lexipol, the experts in policy, training, wellness support and grants assistance for first responders and government leaders. To learn more, visit lexipol.com.

‘From oxygen to ketamine’: Why dosing matters, regardless of drug type

“We've got to be on top of our game when it comes to clinical dosing of medications, from oxygen to ketamine.”

This week, Inside EMS cohosts Chris Cebollero and Kelly Grayson dive into an article by Joshua Davies on the use of chemical restraints in the field. They discuss the pros and cons of different medications, including a lively discussion on the use of versed and why ketamine is a good drug … when dosed and used properly.

Top quotes

• "You should have a fairly extensive formulary of antipsychotic and sedative agents available to you."

• "We need to stop worrying about what we're seeing in the news and train our providers."

• "We really have to be able to give our medical director confidence that whatever is in the protocol and whatever they want to give us in the protocol, we have the competency to do that work and do that skill."

This episode of Inside EMS is brought to you by Lexipol, the experts in policy, training, wellness support and grants assistance for first responders and government leaders. To learn more, visit lexipol.com.

Career progression: ‘A good paramedic should outgrow their protocols’

“If you're the smartest one in the room, you're in the wrong room.”

Education is the word of the day on this episode of Inside EMS, as cohosts Chris Cebollero and Kelly Grayson dissect the impact of higher learning on providers’ career longevity and advancement. Plus we dig into all this:

• Starter EMS agencies. “Some agencies might just have to be the minor leagues, the starter programs and the feeders to the real EMS agencies."

• Prioritizing your professional growth. “We're in charge of the career ladder. I shouldn't have to worry about my organization putting something in place for me to grow. They don’t owe that to me. It's my job to market myself and create the opportunity."

• Big picture impact of higher education. “When people say, ‘I don't need an education to be a paramedic,’ they don't know what they don't know. It's not until you get a little older and a little wiser that you realize the value of that education."

This episode of Inside EMS is brought to you by Lexipol, the experts in policy, training, wellness support and grants assistance for first responders and government leaders. To learn more, visit lexipol.com.

‘Where is your strength as an EMS provider?’

“Even after all these years of being in EMS, I still want to learn.” Flying solo this week, Chris Cebollero takes a note from EMS1 columnist Tim Nowak, walking listeners through his “11 keys to success for the rookie EMT.” Though directed at new EMTs, Cebollero makes the point that Nowak’s list of advice is really poignant for anyone at any point in their EMS career.  

Listen to learn: 

• The role ego plays on scene … and how to move past it 
• How to test your quick-thinking reflexes and level-up 
• The slow creep of complacency and how to avoid it 

Top quotes 

• "When someone needs you and needs your ability and needs your knowledge and needs your skill, you don't need to be looking for the OB kit." 
• "Never settle for the minimum, whether it's the standard of patient care, compassion, continuing education hours." 
• “You are going to make mistakes. You need to learn from your mistakes. You need to make sure that you don't do those mistakes again.” 

This episode of Inside EMS is brought to you by Lexipol, the experts in policy, training, wellness support and grants assistance for first responders and government leaders. To learn more, visit lexipol.com. 

EMT partners: ‘The people that really make it happen’ on calls

“When your communication is intuitive … that’s what makes EMS an art for me.” This week, our cohosts discuss what makes a good EMT partner and a supportive paramedic mentor. The discussion was inspired by EMT-B Clay Gilman’s recent EMS1 poem submission, “To my medic, from your EMT.”

The conversation also touches on:

• The use of BLS intercepts in place of paramedic intercepts 

• How empowering EMTs can provide staffing relief 

• Why EMTs should be taught to think above all else 

This episode of Inside EMS is brought to you by Lexipol, the experts in policy, training, wellness support and grants assistance for first responders and government leaders. To learn more, visit lexipol.com.

‘We have to change’: Matt Zavadsky on his new role and how EMS needs to evolve

This week on Inside EMS, MedStar’s Matt Zavadsky joins the show for the 10th time as a guest host to discuss potential changes to how the organization operates in the City of Fort Worth … as well as a change to Zavadsky’s personal career path. The pair also discuss:

• The four options on the table for transforming MedStar
• What a MedStar change means for the 13 surrounding cities it serves
• How the economics of EMS have changed since the pandemic

This episode of Inside EMS is brought to you by Lexipol, the experts in policy, training, wellness support and grants assistance for first responders and government leaders. To learn more, visit lexipol.com.

Goodbye, pencil whipping: Reimagining drug tracking compliance

“We wanted to build something to solve the problem and help the paramedic, not hinder them.” Clive Savacool, CEO and founder of LogRx, joins the podcast this week to discuss preventing drug diversion/theft.

Host Christ Cebollero and Savacool discuss:

• Who sets the tone for compliance accountability in an EMS organization

• The practice of gatekeeping narcotics from “drug seekers”

• Modernizing documentation practices to increase accuracy

• The LogRx smartphone platform and solution for tracking narcotics and other drugs

This episode of the Inside EMS Podcast is sponsored by LogRx. Learn a better way to track your narcotics at LogRx.com.

‘We are patient advocates’: When ‘backing the blue’ puts EMS in a difficult position

Inside EMS cohosts Chris Cebollero and Kelly Grayson delve into a legal case out of New Jersey in this week’s episode, in which law enforcement officers and EMS providers were recently charged with the in-custody, in-ambulance death of a patient under the influence of bath salts.

The discussion also discusses a similar incident out of Colorado in which two paramedics and a police officer were convicted in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain after he was injected with ketamine.

Chris and Kelly share vulnerable moments from their careers when they regret not advocating for their patient in the face of law enforcement actions, plus we dig into all this:

• The growing legal scrutiny of EMS practices

• How to use de-escalation techniques to mitigate contentious situations with law enforcement partners

• The ethical responsibilities of EMS providers

This episode of the Inside EMS Podcast is sponsored by LogRx. Learn a better way to track your narcotics at LogRx.com.