Note: April 1, 2010 Post. Enjoy.

Every EMS professional has acquired some tools and tricks during their career. You know the kind of things they don’t teach you in EMT school and you can only learn on the streets. Just by nature of my personality I get fairly frequent raised eyebrows and quizzical looks from partners and patients. But the thing that gets the most questions and curiosity is the rolling pin. It fits perfectly in the space between the bench seat cushion and wall. In addition to the obvious use, as an attitude adjuster, the rolling pin is great for rolling out the anguish from lower lumbar pain or splinting a radius ulna or tibia fibula fracture. I also like to use the rolling pin for smoothing out an occlusive abdominal dressing or to re-roll a four-inch roller gauze.

Now before you start to snicker I know plenty of EMS professionals that carry other kitchen gadgets in the ambulance. Steve Whitehead from theEMTSpot.com told me recently, “Brau I have been carrying a turkey baster for years. Sure I might able to use it for suctioning, but the best use is for testing for skin turgor.”

When I was in San Francisco for the premier of the Chronicles of EMS Ted Setla showed me some of the content he cut from Episode 1. In one excellent clip “Mark and Justin argue about the merits of a slotted spoon versus a non-slotted spoon. With great seriousness Justin explains, “We have a lot of overdose patients and a slotted spoon lets the vomit slip through, but not the pills. Then I can count the pills.” He continues, “In our system the patient’s health insurance also determines if I can use a Good Grips spoon or a generic spoon.”

Mark countered with, “In the UK we don’t have a choice in spoons. Instead they need to have bright green handles.”

Before we started recording on a recent episode of the EMSEduCast, Kelly Grayson the Ambulance Driver, started telling us “I need three things in the ambulance. A pen, a watch with a second-hand, and a pair of oven mitts.” He went on to say, “when the fire is really burning in some dude or we get some crawfish to boil between calls I just reach into my cargo pockets for my trusty oven mitts with the trigger finger action grip.”

Last time I checked Chris Kaiser, Jamie Davis, and Chris Montera were all users of the basic pancake spatula. “I can go straight from the kitchen to scraping up the pieces of a trauma patient with a spatula,” boomed the Pod Medic. “For me the spatula is best for those bed-ridden patients that have not been adequately repositioned in their bed. I can gently pry their backside onto the slider board,” piped up Chris Kaiser.

You might have missed it but in the last episode of the Firefighter Net Cast Rhett and John got into an in-depth discussion about which is more helpful on the job – a regular muffin tin or a mini muffin tin pan. Rhett was heard to say, “John you are so old school with just a six muffin pan. The only way I roll is twelve mini muffins. Banana nut – if you need to know.”

Finally, and speaking of old school, the Rogue Medic carries an old-fashioned egg beater in his jump kit. “Frankly the research about the efficacy of handheld electric mixers is inconclusive and the research methods, especially in the randomized trial of donut batter mixing, are full of holes.”

I was not able to reach several other of my good friends and EMS professionals about their favorite kitchen gadgets for patient assessment and care. So I am hopeful Kyle Bates, David Konig, and Jim Hoffman will share their thoughts in  the comments area. You are welcome to do the same.

If you enjoyed this post make sure you check out Stethoscope Calibration from April 1, 2009.

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Paramedic Kelly Grayson discusses his book, En Route: A Paramedic’s Stories of Life, Death, and Everything in Between, with Greg Friese of EverydayEMSTips.com. Listen to Kelly in this audio interview with the EMS author, blogger, and educator explain his reasons for writing the book and how it was written. Kelly also shares one of his favorite stories from the book and describes his writing style.

Kelly concludes the interview with tips for other paramedics that are aspiring writers. You can find more about Kelly and read his blog A Day in the Life of an Ambulance Driver.

Have you read this book? What did you think? Are you working on your own EMS memoirs? Share your thoughts and ideas in the comments area.

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Here is an activity for downtime – you only need a few minutes – or between calls or while waiting for your partner to finish the patient care report. All you need is a piece of paper.

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Sunday is a perfect day for cooking a pie in the station kitchen while you are on duty. I like recipes that are easy to follow and will not suffer if I am suddenly called away.  This blueberry pie recipe came to me from my aunt. It is a family favorite.

Crust:

• 1 1/2 cups of flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 1/2 tbs sugar

Preheat oven to 375F. In a medium bowl combine all crust ingredients. Press crust dough into 9″ pie pan. Prick sides and bottom. Back crust for 10-15 minutes or until light brown. Allow to cool.

Filling

• 1 quart fresh blueberries
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup cold water divided
• 3 tbs flour
• dash of salt

In a medium sauce pan combine 1 cup blueberries, 1/2 cup sugar and 1/4 cup water. Bring to a boil. Make flour paste with 1/2 cup water, 3  tbs flour and salt. Add flour paste to boiling mixture stirring quickly with a whisk. Cook until mixture thickens. Remove and cool.

When filling is cool, fold in remaining blueberries. Spoon into pie shell.

Refrigerate and serve with whipping cream or vanilla ice cream.

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Next week Wisconsin recognizes and prepares for the Spring and Summer severe weather season.

The statewide tornado drill is scheduled for April 23.

How does your EMS organization prepare for severe weather? A few important things to consider:

1) station standbys during severe weather alerts
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3) availability of supplies for emergency responders to assist with debris clean-up after severe weather

What would you add to this list?

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Follow these Everyday EMS Tips to make the most of an online continuing education lesson by:

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