Posts by The Paramedic Hive

By Scott Ash, NRP  The Paramedic Hive – Built for Those Who Answer the Call Some heroes wear badges and run into burning buildings. Some fly high above us and keep our skies safe. But few have run faster than Paramedic Johnny Gage. Some heroes never respond to a 911 call. Some never place an IV, intubate a…

“Where have all the applicants gone?”  EMS has been asking itself the same question for years.  Every class there are less candidates.  Training academies have open seats they can’t fill.  New grads don’t stay for more than a few years. Rural communities can’t staff their ambulances. Urban systems are scraping by on mandated overtime and burned-out…

Introduction Until recently cervical spine immobilization—the automatic application of a rigid cervical collar and long spine board—has been the accepted standard of care for decades. This practice is no longer recommended without question. During the past 15–20 years increasing research evidence and several important specialty consensus statements have led clinicians toward more selective spinal motion restriction (SMR)…

Across many municipalities, a growing friction has emerged between fire departments and private ambulance providers. At the heart of the problem is an uneven system of accountability: private ambulance services are tightly bound to strict response-time contracts, while public fire departments often operate under far looser obligations (AHA, 2020; RAND, 2013; Municipal contract examples/news). The…

There’s a quiet crisis unfolding in emergency medical services. Once a clearly respected trade — a blend of acute clinical skill, split-second judgment and physical courage — paramedicine is being hollowed out by indifference, penny-pinching and a culture that mistakes token gratitude for real support. The result: an essential profession that’s slipping toward obsolescence. Paid…