Let me explain.

To those of you new to the FRNtv family of sites, welcome.  Allow me a few moments of introduction.  First, this is my little corner of the First Responders Network (FRNtv for short, or #FRNtv on the twitter) universe.  From here I host our discussion show Seat at the Table.  I can also co-ordinate conference videos, plan meetups, do video hosting, shoot live action EMS shows and, on occasion, some light baking.  Point is I needed a place to talk specifically about FRN related topics, not just my usual writings over at the Happy Medic.

Happy was born out of trauma and recovery and is the main reason I’m not burned out and fried in a corner of the room cursing under my breath every time the tones go off.

Me and my long lost ginger pal Chris Kaiser dreamed up this EMS 2.0 idea, where we all just stop doing what we’ve been doing for 30 years and try something new.  The idea has been around for…well…31 years and we’re still working on it.  I have a chance to work a little harder at it lately now that I have a nice headquarters day job as the SFFD’s CQI/Risk Manager.  I like to think of it as 1 Man…77,000 transports to review, but I digress.

It was in this new role I came to appreciate an exchange I had with a fellow long ago and far away on the mesas outside Albuquerque, New Mexico.  No, seriously, I used to work there.

We were posted at a job fair or some such nonsense when a man approached me asking why he had been placed on a long wooden board and taped down.  After my medic partner shrugged his shoulder and dug back into his Frito pie I asked for the specifics of the event.  Bicycle runs a stop sign, makes a right hand turn and hits the back of one of those big brown delivery trucks.  I won’t mention the name.  Helmet on, no loss of consciousness, arm broken.  He’s exchanging information with the truck driver when the local EMS shows up and forces him onto a long spine board, collar and eventually soft restraints.

I know.

Then he popped the question, “That seems excessive, don’t you think?”

Well, yeah, it WAS, IS and WILL ALWAYS be excessive to strap a curved spine to a flat board simply because of how the owner of said spine came to be meeting EMS crews.  If we are to believe mechanism of injury why are NFL players only boarded when they have deficits.  Based on protocols we’d be long boarding most of the All American Pro All Star (I don’t know football, but you get the idea).

Point being I had to bite my tongue and tow the party line about mechanism to this person who likely had a really good case against the local EMS agency (who no one liked anyway but that’s besides the point).

Do we really believe in what we’re doing to our patients or for them?  Shouldn’t we be doing what is in their best interests?  Isn’t that the right thing to do?  Don’t you think?