More Than a Pandemic Story: Building a Resilient EMS Education System

In this Journal Club episode, we explore a study asking learners what separates a good educator from a great one. Do their answers match what we think matters most in EMS education? Tune in, compare notes, and see if your teaching instincts line up with theirs.

How ready are EMS agencies to care for children? This Journal Club examines the first comprehensive national assessment of pediatric prehospital readiness across nearly 7,000 U.S. EMS agencies. We’ll explore where agencies are doing well, where important gaps remain, and why a pediatric emergency care coordinator may make a meaningful difference. Important Links: Article: The National Pediatric Prehospital Readiness Project: First Comprehensive Assessment of United States Emergency Medical Services Agencies Data from the Study: https://emscdatacenter.org/sp/data-center/pprp-research-opportunities-request-process/ PPRP Toolkit: https://emscimprovement.center/domains/prehospital-care/prehospital-pediatric-readiness/pprp-toolkit/

Lights and sirens are woven into the identity of EMS. They signal urgency, clear traffic, and often feel synonymous with saving lives. But how much time are we actually gaining, and is the benefit worth the risk? In this month’s journal club, we examine a large observational study that used modern transportation modeling and more than 25,000 ambulance transports to estimate the true impact of emergent driving during patient transport. The findings challenge long-held assumptions and raise important questions about safety, culture, policy, and clinical decision-making in EMS. Listen as we unpack the evidence behind lights and sirens use, explore the balance between urgency and risk, and discuss what this means for providers, patients, and EMS systems moving forward. Article: The Estimated Benefit of Lights and Sirens During Ambulance Transport https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10903127.2026.2659958

Can ChatGPT deliver meaningful feedback that rivals an experienced educator? Join us as we examine new research comparing AI-generated and faculty feedback in medical education, explore what students valued most, and discuss what these findings could mean for paramedic educators navigating the future of teaching, assessment, and learner support.

In this episode, we take on one of the most challenging questions in prehospital care: how do we know when a child is truly critically ill? Pediatric patients don’t always present as we expect, and in the field, we often make high-stakes decisions with limited information and infrequent experience. This month’s journal club explores a qualitative study that brings together perspectives from paramedics and physicians to better understand how pediatric critical illness is recognized across settings. From vital signs and interventions to clinical intuition and system limitations, this conversation uncovers the gaps between how we think we assess kids and how it actually happens in practice. Join us as we unpack the realities of pediatric assessment, the limitations of current tools, and what it might take to build a better, more consistent approach to recognizing sick kids in EMS. Article: Prehospital and Emergency Care Perspectives to Define Pediatric Critical Illness and Injury. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12815507/