Tune in here Wednesday through Friday for live episodes of the MedicCast, EMS Garage, EMSEduCast, EMS Leadership, and Standing Orders from EMS World Expo Las Vegas. The live streams is thanks to ZOLL Medical.

Streaming video by Ustream

To learn more about upcoming shows visit MedicCastLive.com.

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The EMS Newbie podcast is hosting a great contest for new EMS professionals. The grand prize is an all expenses paid trip to Las Vegas. Read all the details at EMS Newbie – Vegas Baby.

My experience with contests like this is far fewer people enter than you might expect. Which means your odds of winning are much better than you think. Put pen to paper and get started!

3 of my Top Tips for EMS Newbies:

1. Start your formal continuing education immediately. Don’t wait until the end of your first refresher cycle. Find out what is available from your employer, check with other local education providers like hospitals, and purchase an online continuing education subscription (RapidCE.com or JEMSCE.com).

2. Connect with other EMS professionals from around the world that are on social networks like LinkedIn and Facebook, listen to EMS podcasts like the EMS Garage or MedicCast, and subscribe to the great blogs at EMSBlogs.com.

3. Write (with your hand, a pen, and a nice note card) thank you notes to the family, friends, instructors, preceptors, and mentors that helped you succeed in school. Tell them specifically what they did to support you and how that impacted your success.

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National Registry renewal is about 10 weeks away. Do you have enough continuing education hours?

Here are some online training opportunities you might consider for continuing education hours, as well as professional development.

1. RapidCE.com – online continuing education from EMS World and CentreLearn.

2. EMSBootCamp.com – live and recorded training programs from EMS education experts.

3. MedicCast Extra – tools, tips, and study aids for EMS students.

4. Physio-Control University – top flight training programs on Capnography and 12 Lead ECG Interpretation.

5. JEMSCE.com – a full service online training program.

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Lists, Lists, and Lists
Lists are a tool for bloggers to attract traffic. I use them all the time. Lists of websites, lists of tips, and lists of resources. Here are a few lists I found recently:

• 10 Extremely Useful On-Line EMS resources from Medic Madness. Sean Eddy’s Medic Madness blog is one of my favorites. His regular feature about celebrity paramedics is humorous and will soon be a monthly EMS1.com column. Even better are his insights into clinical and operational issues. His post on a pediatric patient choking on a balloon is a must read – Why My Daughter Doesn’t Play with Balloons.
• Top 43 EMT Blogs. I am a big fan of prime numbers so this list resonates with me. Only way to make it better would be 47 Top EMT Blogs. Using a search and ranking scheme that is not entirely clear to me this blog lists 43 EMS Websites. Blogger tip – inbound and outbound links are useful for search engine ranking or so I am told.

MedicCast.TV
Jamie Davis, the Pod Medic, is now regularly distributing video content via MedicCast.TV. Jamie says “Episodes come out every Friday and are short, fun and to the point!” You can also find MedicCast.TV on iTunes.

EMS Office Hours
Jim Hoffman, the EMS Professional, hosts the EMS Office Hours podcast every Wednesday evening at 1800 CST. Each week he discusses EMS news, issues, and events. Plus callers can call in and ask questions and join the live discussion. Join Jim this week for a conversation with him and other EMS professionals.

Tips for MCI Response

Blogger MedicSK has written a great post about MCI response preparation. I really like his idea for a “What if, Right now” jar. Read that tip and the rest at his post at the Big One.

Graduate Degrees: Are they Worth it in EMS?
Excellent article from the June 2010 issue of EMS Magazine about different types of graduate degrees and the value of an advanced education for EMS professionals. Someday soon I will write about my own experience in graduate school.

EMS Newbie Podcast
I just found this podcast that features EMT student, the newbie, talking about EMS and EMT training with Kelly Grayson, the ambulance driver. I like the premise of this show and the back and forth conversation is fun. Listen to the EMS Newbie podcast.

Alameda County EMS Podcast

Just found this new podcast from Alameda County EMS. You can find the first two episodes from host, Josh English, as he interviews Mike Taigman in a four part series about ethics in EMS.

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Check out this list of personal health tips for EMS professionals at EMSResponder.com.

What safety tips are missing from this list?

For more great tips, resources, and study aids become a premium member of the MedicCast extra from my friend Jamie Davis the Podmedic. The Mediccast extra is the largest collection of tips, resources, audio files, and more for EMTs, Paramedics, and EMS students. Get the MedicCast Extra Advantage!

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2009 was a big year for EMS podcasting. I thoroughly enjoyed my involvement as a co-host of the EMSEduCast, regular contributor to the EMS Garage, and guest appearances on the MedicCast and EMS Professional podcasts. I also launched a new podcast, Medical Author Chat.

For me I try to keep the technical aspects of podcasting as simple as possible and mostly focus on content creation.

The EMSEduCast is recorded using a Skype Conference call that Buck Feris has routed with Virtual Audio Cables into the free program Audacity. I am not sure how he makes the connections but if enough of us ask maybe he will write a how-to post for his terrific blog – Gomerville.com.

Episode 26 of the EMSEduCast – everything you ever wanted to know about podcasting – digs deep into the technical how-to of podcasting with Buck, Jamie Davis, and Jim Hoffman leading the conversation.

Jamie Davis also wrote two guest columns for the Everyday EMS Tips column at EMS1.com on podcasting. Read the articles and then click on Jamie’s link for a video tip on starting a podcast. Columns by Jamie:

• 10 Tips to Start Your Own Podcast
• More on Podcasting from the Podmedic

Medical Author Chat is recorded with my Google Voice number. Once the guest and I are ready to record I activate the recording. As soon as the call is over I can download the recording or simply embed the recording into a blog post or page. It is really simple. The quality is lower and it sounds like a phone call, but the simplicity cannot be matched.

My primary recording microphone is the Microsoft LifeChat LX-3000 Headset. (Amazon affiliate link)

Other podcasting tools I have used:

• Blog Talk Radio -  a web-based recording service with an embeddable player
• CallBurner – a Skype plug-in for recording Skype calls

What software and hardware do you use for podcasting? What questions fo you have about podcasting? If I can’t answer them I will put them to Buck and Jamie.

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Jamie Davis, the podmedic, invited me to join him on stage during the EMS Expo in October 2009 to discuss EMS education. We had a lot of fun discussing EMS education trends and highlights of the EMS expo. We also were joined on-stage by:

1. Bryan Fass, the Fit Responder, discussed the importance of fitness for EMS professionals

2. John Dillon, paramedic educator, described how games can be used to teach

3. Baxter Larmon, popular presenter and EMS researcher, explained the importance of research to the EMS profession and how EMS professionals can get involved in EMS research

Listen to the MedicCast Episode 199 for the complete conversation.

If you are a conference organizer remember that Jamie Davis, myself Greg Friese, and other top EMS social media content producers like Chris Montera, Ted Setla, and Carissa O’brien are available to do live podcasting from conferences and other special events. Contact me for details.

Finally, find all the study resources, past episodes, and lots of other bonus materials of the MedicCast on the MedicCast Extra. Jamie has created an amazing library of exclusive resources for MedicCast subscribers.

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About a year ago I dove into different social media tools. I think my first foray was Facebook. Then before I knew it I had multiple Twitter accounts, several blogs, profiles on five Ning social networks, a LinkedIn profile, a YouTube channel, a Flickr account, and RSS subscriptions to dozens of blogs.

Based just on user numbers most Everyday EMS Tips readers are using Facebook for their only social media presence. A few of you might have LinkedIn profiles, and a very small number of you are using Twitter or have joined the EMS Ning networks (EMSConnect, EMSUnited, orJEMSConnect).

If you are uncertain how to get started visit PIOSocialMediaTraining.com and enroll in the social media boot camp. You will learn about social media tools and actions you and/or your organization should be taking.

One of the trends that has begun in the last few years and will continue to build momentum in the 2010 is the importance of building your own personal brand. Like it or not you are leaving foot prints as you wander the web commenting or writing on blog posts, uploading videos and photos, and creating social networking profiles. When was the last time you Googled your name? Were there any results? Are you proud of those results? Will those results help you when you apply for your next job or promotion?

In 2010 commit to positive “oversharing” online that demonstrates your curiosity, willingness to share with others and learn from others, and commitment to the EMS profession. Ways you can begin to “overshare” and build your online brand include:

1. Comment on blog posts by other EMS professionals. Listen to and comment on podcasts.

2. Create and maintain social networking profiles at places like LinkedIn.com, EMSConnect.com, and Twitter.com. Once you have a profile send me an invite to connect. I can also introduce you to other professionals.

3. Start your own blog or ask to contribute posts to established blogs. I accept guest blog posts and I know Chris Kaiser of LifeUndertheLights.com also considers guest blog posts. Jamie Davis also accepts guest posts for the MedicCast blog.

4. Create a series of videos about assessment and treatment procedures you excel at. Ask your friends and family to star in the videos as patients and rescuers.  Upload your videos to YouTube and then tell people in your network about those videos so we can embed them in blog posts or link to them from Twitter.

Do you think having a personal brand matters for EMS professionals? Tell me why or why not.

This is the 7th installment of the 31 Days of CE series for Everyday EMS Tips.

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Check out this great list of safety tips for EMS professionals at EMSResponder.com.

What safety tips are missing from this list?

For more great tips, resources, and study aids become a premium member of the MedicCast extra. The largest collection of tips, resources, audio files, and more for EMTs, Paramedics, and EMS students. Get the MedicCast Extra Advantage!

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Tonight’s topic: Review of the Best Products Seen At EMS Expo

Everyday EMS Tips readers join me and Jamie Davis tonight for a live recording of the MedicCast Live in a special joint podcast with the EMS Garage and EMSEduCast about the EMS Expo in Atlanta.

Don’t miss tonight’s show where Jamie Davis, Chris Montera, and I talk about EMS Expo 2009, new EMS gadgets that caught our eye at the Expo this year. We will also take calls from live listeners as well as answer questions and comments from the chat room.

We will also announce the2009 EMS Expo Live product innovators of the year.  We welcome your comments live during the show either by phone or in the chat room.

The MedicCast and MedicCast extra are two top sites of tips, resources, and podcasts for EMS students and EMS professionals.

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