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This Week in EMS: A Recap for June 23 - 29, 2007
The nation's most prominent MCI response this week occurred in Kentucky, where a chartered bus crashed and left one person dead and 66 injured. The bus was carrying a family back to Alabama from a reunion in New York when it crashed into an overpass support early Monday.
One passenger died when she was thrown from the bus onto Interstate 65. Among the others, four people were considered to have critical injuries, fifty-two were considered to require urgent care and 10 were considered to have minor injuries. For the original article and incident photos visit 1 Dead, 66 Hurt in Kentucky Bus Crash.
In an update released Wednesday, it was reported that the bus driver later died at Vanderbilt University Hospital in Nashville, Tenn. A preliminary investigation found that the driver had fallen asleep at the wheel and that the bus may have been overloaded with passengers. For additional details visit Second Person Dies in Kentucky Bus Crash.
In another nationally noted incident this week, five new high school graduates were tragically killed in a motor vehicle accident in New York Tuesday night.
The teens' SUV and a tractor-trailer crashed head-on and slid into a fence outside the village of East Bloomfield. Flames reportedly shot 20 feet into the air while the SUV was partially crushed underneath the truck. For more information visit Crash Kills Five NY High School Grads.
In an update Thursday, it was revealed that the girl at the wheel of the teens' SUV only had a junior driver's license, which legally restricted her from driving at night and carrying more than two passengers under age 21. For more on this, read Driver in Fatal N.Y. Crash Had Junior License.
In EMS industry news this week, a Wisconsin newspaper suggested that heart patients are routinely being put at risk during transfers of care in which their chest pads are removed in order to switch them from one defibrillator to the next receiving caregiver's defibrillator.
The article does not offer any examples of cases in which such swaps have been detrimental, but alludes to anecdotes from rescuers, and covers the attempt of two local nurses to lobby for the adoption of universal defibrillator pads. This would presumably allow for faster transfers between defibrillators in case the patient is being paced or loses their rhythm at that time.
This article has already generated some interesting feedback. Readers, if you have an opinion on this topic and whether or not an issue exists, share your thoughts in our EMSResponder.com Forums. For the full article visit Bureaucracy Stalls Defibrillator Solution.
In a follow up on the issue of MRSA, a new study released this week estimates the infection rate among hospital and nursing home patients at about 46 out of every 1,000 patients.
This estimate is about ten times the number estimated previously. The study was released Monday by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology. To read more about how the study was conducted and how it compares to previous studies, visit the full article, New Staph Superbug Study Estimates Higher Infection Rate.
If you haven't already read the MRSA article by EMSResponder.com contributor Francis J. Rella, it continues to be extremely timely. Read about this New York paramedic's personal nightmare with the illness in his column, Infection Control.
EMS Magazine Needs Your Feedback
Please take a moment to provide your input to EMS Magazine for the upcoming article, "Thinking Outside the MCI Box."
We want to know what special plans or unique steps your agency has taken to prepare for major multicasualty events. The best examples will be profiled in a September feature article in order to share these insights and approaches with the EMS community.
E-mail john.erich@cygnusb2b.com with your ideas and examples, or call 800/547-7377, x. 1106. Your fellow responders - and the citizens they serve - will thank you.
Awards
It's time! Nominations are due for EMS Magazine's 22nd Annual EMT/Paramedic of the Year Award, sponsored by Braun Industries and ZOLL Medical Corporation, by Monday, July 2, 2007. Don't miss the opportunity to nominate your most inspiring colleague for this honor. For contest rules and instructions please visit EMSResponder.com/paramedic.
EMS Magazine is also accepting nominations for the 2007 EMS Magazine/National Association of EMTs Gold Service Award. Nominations must be received by August 1, 2007. For contest rules and submissions, go to EMSResponder.com/goldaward.
EMSResponder.com Poll
Our latest poll asks whether you have ever acquired an illness or infection that you attribute to your work in EMS.
To participate, visit the poll on the lower right side of EMSResponder.com.
Other top headlines this week on EMSResponder.com:
