Hey everybody, Adam here! Hope you are all doing well these days. Lots of stuff to talk about in the world of Emergency Medical Services, so lets get into it!
I Want To Suck Your Blood!
The American Red Cross is putting out its perennial summer warning about a serious shortage in blood and blood products. According to a press release dated 5 August, the ARC reports a 25% in its national blood inventory in the month of July. There are a lot of factors at play in the decrease such as fewer donors during the summer months for a variety of reasons. I’d also wager that the infamous “trauma season” has a lot to do with increased use during the summer months, although the Red Cross states only that hospital use of blood products “…has remained constant…”. Whatever the reason, it seems like the red protein is getting scarce these days, particularly the O-types. With EMS agencies looking to implement or expand prehospital low-titer O positive whole blood programs, access to blood could become a problem. So if you can donate, please do so! Or better yet, hold a drive! That’s a great way to help raise community awareness of not only the serious shortage of blood, but also what your EMS agency does every day.
“I’m sorry, Dave, I can’t do that.”
Hey, there’s a new book out about the latest and greatest thing to come along, something that will revolutionize the EMS industry. I’m going to give you three guesses as to what it’s about, and, as always, the first two don’t count. Ready? Here we go…
Artificial Intelligence. Who woulda thunk?
I’m going to be fully transparent about 2 things here, and this is the important part, so don’t look away now. First - technology? I’m not a fan. I’m still convinced that cell phones are a fad and that we should damn well have stopped inventing new technology when we got to the vacuum tube (that link is for you young ‘uns who have no idea what a vacuum tube is). Second, I have not read this book (nor am I planning to), so please take that into account if you choose to proceed.
The author, Donnie Woodyard Jr, has some legit credentials. Multiple decades of experience is EMS, an advanced degree, multiple leadership roles in EMS organizations across the country. But after having had artificial intelligence ruthlessly shoved in our faces for the past 6 months, watching AI pop into everything from search engines to breakfast cereal, I can’t help but feeling that this just totally smacks of a money grab. The book has an inspiring title, a slick website, and the promise that this is the stuff you need to know to be a change-leader as AI transforms EMS! But will it?
Recently we’ve seen widespread attempts to leverage the promise of AI in a variety of schemes, all of which are essentially designed to increase share prices or generate money in some other way without many of them actually delivering what they promised. This article, published in Inc. Magazine, does a good job of describing the current state of AI: “A.I. is so widely misunderstood that the only thing most of these folks actually know about the subject is that they certainly don't want to miss out on it.”
Anyway, give the book a go. Maybe AI is the way of the future and it will completely transform EMS. I’ll keep an eye on it, just in case.
If it was a snake it would have bitten me!
A couple of weeks ago I posted a newsletter talking about the dangers of counterfeit tourniquets. In that article I described my mission to try and raise awareness of this problem so that people who have taken Stop The Bleed training and want a safe, effective TQ know that Amazon is not the place to get it. Tomorrow, I’m heading out on a short trip that’s going to involve some domestic flights and a couple days in a high-profile destination. I’m going to make it a point, while I’m moving about the country, to see how many public places I can identify that have invested in bleeding control kits for another upcoming newsletter where I hope to begin to raise awareness of the fact that bleeding control kits are starting to pop up in a lot of places. Let’s see how many pictures of AED cabinets I can get over the next few days!
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