The EMS Lighthouse Project

More tragic news from Texas. Dr Ray Fowler, a true EMS legend, has died.

Tragic news from Houston about a friend, mentor, and colleague, Dr David Persse. 

Jeff gives a brief update on the podcast. Where it's been what is changing, and what the future holds. 

Web site: emslighthouseproject.org
Information: [email protected] or [email protected]
YouTube: YouTube.com/@emslighthouseproject

AI is everywhere in popular culture right now. Most of us are confronted with it daily and most of us are either excited or horrified. Is it helpful or harmful? If we are going to use it, how should we? What is the ethical and pragmatic use of AI in research?

Drs Remle Crowe and Henry Wang join us to discuss what I think everyone would agree is a rapidly changing technology. 

Citations:

1. Lee S, Davis J, Milne K, Shenvi C, Beattie LK, Wegman M, et al. Where Evidence‐Based Medicine Meets AI: Pro...

Whole blood is the current bright, shiny thing in EMS medicine. It works in the hospital and is what our patients are bleeding out onto the road so it just seems to make sense that we should put back what they’re loosing. But… is it any better than blood components? That’s the question the authors of TOWAR tried to answer. One of those authors, Dr Frank Guyette, joins us for a two episode interview about this trial and about trials in general. 

Dr Guyette is an EM and EMS physician, medical director for STATMedEvac, and Profess...

Whole blood is the current bright, shiny thing in EMS medicine. It works in the hospital and is what our patients are bleeding out onto the road so it just seems to make sense that we should put back what they’re loosing. But… is it any better than blood components? That’s the question the authors of TOWAR tried to answer. One of those authors, Dr Frank Guyette, joins us for a two episode interview about this trial and about trials in general. 

Dr Guyette is an EM and EMS physician, medical director for STA...

Join Dr. Jeff Jarvis for part II of his interview with podcase friend and frequent contributor, now-Dr Tanner Smida where we discuss his defense of his PhD. Dr Smida discusses four papers that inform cardiac arrest resuscitation, as well as lessons he learned about conducting well-designed observational studies. 

Although his dissertation was built around only 4 papers, here is Dr Smida’s entire bibliography:

1.        Smida T, Willson C, Salerno J, Weiss L, Salcido DD. Can you get there from here? An analysis of walkability among PulsePoint CPR alert dispatches. Resuscitation. 2020 Mar 1;148:135-139. 

2.        Patterson PD, Weiss LS, We...

Join Dr. Jeff Jarvis as he interviews podcase friend and frequent contributor, now-Dr Tanner Smida for the first of a two-part interview where we discuss his defense of his PhD. Dr Smida discusses four papers that inform cardiac arrest resuscitation, as well as lessons he learned about conducting well-designed observational studies. 

Although his dissertation was built around only 4 papers, here is Dr Smida’s entire bibliography:

1.        Smida T, Willson C, Salerno J, Weiss L, Salcido DD. Can you get there from here? An analysis of walkability among PulsePoint CPR alert dispatches. Resuscitation. 2020 Mar 1;148:135-139. doi: 10.1016/j.resus...

This is a special version of the EMS Lighthouse, live from Ashland, OR. We are joined by Mike Verkest and Dr Ritu Sahni from The EMS Show, and Jimmy Apple from The EMS Avenger at the State of Jefferson Conference in Southern Oregon. We had a blast and covered a to of ground. I hope y'all enjoy!

Dr Remle Crowe returns to the podcast to discuss three new papers with Dr Jarvis: Two papers on epinephrine in cardiact arrest (including one on trauma!) and one on pulse oximetry in hypoxemic patients with darker skin. We might nerd out a bit on methodology, tacos, and have a few book recommendations.

Citations:

We were all taught succinylcholine is contraindicated in hyperkalemia because it can cause potassium release, exacerbating the problem. But does it? Does it really?

Dr. Jarvis discusses a recent paper that seems to compare mortality within 24 hours of RSI in hyperkalemic patients between those intubated with succ or rocuronium. And then we discuss methods.. including the Table 1 Fallacy. 

Citations:

1.     Simmer PE, Perza M, Cho YD, et al.: Hyperkalemic emergency department patients intubated with rocuronium or succinylcholine: Retrospective study of clinical outcomes. The American Journal of Emergency Medicine. 2026; February;100:154–64.

2.     Cole JB, Knack SKS, Driv...

You've read about how this groundbreaking trial on ketamine vs etomidate for RSI "Changes Everything!" on the socials. Or perhaps "it's horribly biased and unnecessary... we're already knew all this!". 

Why? Well.. social media. Listen in as Dr Jarvis discusses not just this trial, but what the evidence landscape was before it was released. Why was it done, how was it done, what does it show, and how can we integrate it into our practice?

Citations:
1. Casey JD, Seitz KP, Driver BE, et al. Ketamine or Etomidate for Tracheal Intubation of Critically Ill Adults. N...

Right on the heels of the release of the 2025 AHA guidelines, including one on preferentially using IVs over IOs, comes two RCTs in the same edition of NEJM that compare intial attempts with IVs to IOs in out of hospital cardiac arrest. Dr Jarvis discusses these two papers while answer a listeners question, and tries to put this, and early epinephrine, into context. And he might throw in some commentary about the AHA's recommendations on mCPR and Heads Up CPR.

Citations:
1. Couper K, Ji C, Deakin CD, et al. A Randomized Trial of Drug Route in...

ACOG, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, recently published EMS guidelines for treatment of hypertension in pregnancy/pre-eclampsia, eclampsia, and postpartum hemorrhage. Drs. Jenna White and Christopher Zahn join Dr Jarvis to discuss the science behind these recommendations as well as how to implement them into our practice. 

Citations:

1. https://www.acog.org/programs/obstetric-emergencies-in-nonobstetric-settings

2. Vuncannon, D. M.; Platner, M. H.; Boulet, S. L. Timely Treatment of Severe Hypertension and Risk of Severe Maternal Morbidity at an Urban Hospital. American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology MFM 2023, 5 (2), 100809. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.a...

You use ketamine. I use ketamine. We all use ketamine. But… how safe it is, really? A new study out of Toronto suggests 30% of patients who receive ketamine have adverse events, a rate higher than seen in the ED. What are we to make of this? I bring Dr Remle Crowe on to discuss…

Citations:

1.     Kwong JL, Verbeek PR, Leong YC, Turner L, Huiskamp M, Drennan IR, Francom S, Ropp S, Cheskes S: Paramedic use of ketamine for severe agitation and violence. Can J Emerg Med. doi: 10.1007/s43678-025-00963-w (Epub ahead of print).

2...

We've covered pre-oxygenation strategies and intubation alot on this podcast, mayber more than anyting else. We covered the definition of FPS in E74, the DEVICE trial on DL vs VL in E75, and the PREOXI trial of NIV vs Mask Pre-oxygenation in E86. Now we have another Preoxygenation paper, this one that reports no difference between preoxygenation with BVM and face mask. WTAF? Better listen, because it turns out words matter, definitions are... definitional, and we absolutely MUST read more than just the abstract.  

Citations:

1.     Gottlieb M, Alexander R, Love AK: Comparison of Preoxygenation Strategies for...

The 2017 NEJM study, ALPS, compared amiodarone, lidocaine, and placebo for refractory shockable rhythms in adults with out of hospital cardiac arrest. They found no significant difference in survival to hospital discharge or functional survival between any of the arms. If that study has left you confused, you’re not alone. 

And you’re in luck. Tanner Smida joins us again to discuss his latest paper using something called target trial emulation to assess the difference in ROSC and survival to discharge between amiodarone and lidocaine. This is a great discussion of his paper, the methodology, and how we ca...

We just got a new paper that compares initial treatment with adenosine compared with diltiazem for the treatment of adults with SVT in the ED. Wouldn’t it be great if it turned out that diltiazem was just as effective, if not more effective, as adenosine without the crappy feeling? 

Yeah, that’d be great, but what do we do with statistically insignificant results. Is there, perhaps, a way to save this “insignificant” paper? Fear not, Bayes is here! 

Yes, that’s right, Dr. Jarvis is grabbing this new paper and diving straight back into that deep da...

The next time you go to intubate a patient, should you give the sedation before the paralytic or the paralytic before the sedative? Does it matter? And what the hell does Bayes have to do with any of this? Dr Jarvis reviews a paper that uses Bayesian statistics to calculate the association between drug sequence and first attempt failure. Then he returns to Nerd Valley to talk about how to interpret 95% confidence intervals derived from frequentists statistics compared to 95% credible intervals that come from Bayesian statistics. 

Citations:

1.     Catoire P, Driver B, Prekker ME, Freund Y: Effe...

We covered a paper in episode 81 that suggested treating atrial fibrillation with rapid ventricular response in the field could lower mortality. But it also drops BP a bit. Could pretreating these patients with calcium lower the risk of hypotension? Dr Jarvis puts on his nerd hat and uses Bayesian analysis to assess a new randomized, placebo-controlled study that looked at just this thing. Why is he going off on this Bayes thing? Because he’s been reading a couple of book on it and wanted to take it for a spin. 

Tables:

Wrapping up a series of 5 episodes, Dr Jarvis finishes his discussion of mechanical CPR devices (MCDs) talking about papers from Utah, Vienna, Anchorage, and Cincinnati and then gives his take on how to interpret the literature and put it into practice.

Papers discussed:

1)    Youngquist ST, Ockerse P, Hartsell S, Stratford C, Taillac P: Mechanical chest compression devices are associated with poor neurological survival in a statewide registry: A propensity score analysis. Resuscitation. 2016;September;106:102–7.

2)    Zeiner S, Sulzgruber P, Datler P, Keferböck M, Poppe M, Lobmeyr E, Van Tulder R, Zajicek A, Buchinger A, Polz K...

Last episode we described the literature showing no survival benefit to patients with the AutoPulse device. Fear not, I wasn’t ignoring the LUCAS, I just felt it deserved it’s own episode. We’ll cover the LINC and PARAMEDIC randomized controlled trials and the secondary analysis of LINC in shockable rhythms. 

I switched to a new production process using a new mic (Rode NT1) and started using ecamm to record. Yes, I know there is a bit of AV dysynchrony.. I’m working on it. I still have a lot to learn about ecamm but am optimisti...

Our story so far.. episode 92 looked at a study showing lower survival from in-hospital cardiac arrest in patients treated with mechanical compression devices. Episode 93 discussed an implementation study of implementing LUCAS devices in a system with high quality pit crew CPR also showing lower survival, despite spending lots of time in training on how to optimally apply the LUCAS to avoid prolonged compression interruptions and movement. 

Now we’re diving into the literature around AutoPulse, the load-distributing band device. We’ll cover two randomized controlled trials and one well-done observational study comparing AutoPulse to manual CPR. Don’t worry...

Ever wonder what would happen to cardiac arrest survival after a system implements LUCAS devices and trains really hard to deploy them appropriately? Wonder no more. Dr Jarvis reviews a paper from the Austin/Travis County EMS System that will shed some light on the question. This is the second episode in a series on mechanical compression devices.  

Citations:

1.     Gonzales L, Oyler BK, Hayes JL, Escott ME, Cabanas JG, Hinchey PR, Brown LH: Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest outcomes with “pit crew” resuscitation and scripted initiation of mechanical CPR. The American Journal...

We know the literature on mechanical CPR devices on mortality in out of hospital cardiac arrest (we DO know this literature, right?), but what about in-hospital arrest? Dr. Jarvis reviews a recent paper that uses the AHA Get With The Guidelines - Resuscitation registry to assess the association between MCDs and mortality. 

Citations
1. Crowley C, Salciccioli J, Wang W, Tamura T, Kim EY, Moskowitz A: The association between mechanical CPR and outcomes from in-hospital cardiac arrest: An observational cohort study. Resuscitation. 2024;May 1;198.
2. Rubertsson S, Lindgren E, Smekal D, Östlund O, Silfverstolpe J, Lichtveld RA, Boomars R...

New Orleans implemented a blood program and assessed the impact of the program on mortality. Dr Jarvis dives into the details of the paper and then Dr Remle Crowe joins in for a discussion on why studying blood in the field is so difficult. 

Citation: 
Broome JM, Nordham KD, Piehl M, Tatum D, Caputo S, Belding C, De Maio VJ, Taghavi S, Jackson-Weaver O, Harris C, et al.: Faster refill in an urban emergency medical services system saves lives: A prospective preliminary evaluation of a prehospital advanced resuscitative care bundle. J Trauma Acute Care Surg. 2024;May;96(5):702–7.

We've reviewed several papers in the past that suggest there might be an advantage to using IV access compared to IO access for medications in cardiac arrest. Is that really a thing? Wouldn't it be great if we had some randomized controlled trials to help answer the questions?  

Funny you should mention RCTs. Dr Jarvis reviews three (THREE!) new RCTs that compare IV to IO access in out of hospital cardiac arrest to try to shed some of that bright light of science on this question!

Citations:

1. Vallentin MF, Granfeldt A, Klitgaard TL, M...

Back in episode 80 we discussed a feasibility study out of Salt Lake City that showed IM epi resulted in 3-minute faster administration in cardiac arrest. It was underpowered to show survival, however. Fortunately, the great folks in Salt Lake City is back with a larger bite at the statistical apple. Dr Jarvis discusses the background around what we know about epinephrine in cardiac arrest (briefly, for once), walks us through this new study, and puts it in context of modern clinical practice. 

Citations.

1. Palatinus HN, Johnson MA, Wang HE, Hoareau GL, Youngquist ST: Early intramuscular a...

Do you give naloxone to patients who are in cardiac arrest? Should you? Can it possibly provide any benefit at all once you are already providing effective ventilations? Well, Dr. Jarvis certainly thought not. He might have even thought it out loud. Like, loudly out loud.  

Based on two recent papers looking directly at this question, perhaps he needs to eat some crow and shine the bright light of science on his own damn practice. 

Citations:

1. Strong NH, Daya MR, Neth MR, Noble M, Sahni R, Jui J, Lupton JR: The association of ea...

Remember when we learned interruptions in compressions take a long time to recover blood pressure from? And how, to avoid these, we should do continuous compressions to avoid them. And ventilations aren’t all that important. Right? Right? Well, about that. Maybe the stories of the importance of continuous compressions were greatly exaggerated. Join Dr. Jarvis as he discusses the literature that led us to this point and some evidence that has led him to reconsider how his system approaches cardiac arrest. He’ll eventually get around to discussion a recent paper by Dr. Rose Yin that analyzes arterial pres...

What’s the best way to pre-oxygenate our patients prior to intubation? The evidence for this question has been mixed for some time. Dr Jarvis discusses the PREOXI Trial, which directly compares preoxygenation with non-invasive ventilation compared to a face mask to see which provides the best protection against peri-intubation hypoxia. This is an important trial that sheds light on a key component of our bundle of care to make intubation safer.

Citations:

There is evidence that clinician experience with intubation is associated with improved success rates and evidence that missed intubation attempts are associated with worse survival, at least in cardiac arrest. The recent Airway EBG paper recommends EMS agencies with low intubation proficiency should use SGAs instead of intubation in cardiac arrest. This all begs the question of whether agencies who intubate more often have higher success rates than those who do not. That’s precisely the question a new paper from Annals of Emergency Medicine attempts to answer. Join Dr. Jarvis to discuss the paper and his thoughts on in...

Description: 

Let’s say you were looking for a safe and effective BLS option for analgesia. Something other than oral acetaminophen or ibuprofen. You want the Green Whistle (methoxyflurane), but you can’t get the Green Whistle (thanks, FDA!). How about sub-dissociative ketamine by nebulizer? Sounds great, but you’re worried about your colleagues getting stoned, right? Admit it, you are. Fortunately, there are breath-actuated nebulizers. Maybe those things will work?

Dr. Jarvis reviews a recent paper comparing the effectiveness of nebulized ketamine with IV ketamine and gives a quick review of some other pa...

What value does EtCO2 have when predicting survival from cardiac arrest? We all know a sharp spike in EtCO2 is associated with ROSC, but what about persistently elevated levels? What does this mean for decision-making regarding the termination of resuscitation?

Join Drs. Jeff Jarvis, Remle Crowe, and Heidi Abraham for the first episode of “Between Two Nerds,” a subgenre of the EMS Lighthouse Project podcast suggested in episode 82 by Dr. CJ Winckler, as they run through a new paper that may shed some light on this question.

Citation:

1. Smida T, Men...

The debate about which drug to use for sedation before RSI will... not… die. Advocates for both ketamine and etomidate approach the argument with near-religious zeal. There have been studies. We’ve even covered some here. We need a systematic review and meta-analysis, preferably using an analysis that recognizes this likely isn’t a black-and-white question. That’s where our friend Bayes comes in. Dr. Jarvis is joined by Drs Remle Crowe and CJ Winkler to discuss this paper and what in the hell Bayesian analysis actually is. We get some nice book recommendations in the process. Plus, we check in...

Atrial Fibrillation with rapid ventricular response is a common cause of EMS activations and ED visits. It is associated with chest discomfort, palpitations, and hypotension. Treatment is aimed at either rhythm or rate control, with rate control being the most common first-line approach. EMS has the potential to treat this condition with medications such as diltiazem, metoprolol, or amiodarone. For those patients with hemodynamic instability, EMS can provide synchronized cardioversion. However, the question for this podcast is whether it matters if EMS treats A Fib or not. Dr. Jarvis recorded this episode in front of a live audience at...

Dr. Jarvis is joined by OG co-host Mike Verkest and Dr. Brent Myers from NAEMSP 2024. We discuss an intriguing concept in cardiac arrest… giving the initial dose of epinephrine IM instead of starting an IV or IO. They discuss a 2021 paper that compared this approach to standard dosing in a feasibility study done in Salt Lake City. Those authors released some additional data from this study… this time about survival. We talk about the potential ramifications.

Citations:

Pugh AE, Stoecklein HH, Tonna JE, Hoareau GL, Johnson MA, Youngquist ST: Intramuscular adrenaline for out...

EMS History is full of interventions we've rapidly adopted, often at great expense and with disruption of existing processes, that later turned out to, how should I say this..... not work. Want examples? MAST and high-volume crystalloids in trauma. Mechanical compression devices, high-dose epinephrine, indiscriminate calcium administration in cardiac arrest. Do I even need to mention backboards? The next bright, shiny thing promising to revolutionize cardiac arrest resuscitation is Head-Up CPR. It's certainly expensive and disruptive, but does it improve outcomes? What is the evidence?

Dr. Jarvis has thoughts. He goes deep on this topic, using a...

What would you say if I told you that Black patients were less likely to receive pain medication compared with white patients? My guess is you’d either question the methods, assume it isn’t possible, or ask why. Regardless of what your answer is, you’re going to want to listen to this episode. Mikey V returns to co-host a live episode from the ESO PCRF research forum, where we interview Drs. Remle Crowe and Jamie Kennel about their new research on this subject. I learned some things, and I think you will, too. 

Here's a...

Have you heard that you’re supposed to decrease the dose of your sedative when performing RSI on hypotensive patients? First, avoid asking why you haven’t addressed the hypotension before intubating.. maybe there’s a reason. Maybe. But, regardless of why, intubate you will. What about those doses? I’ve been hearing for years that I should be dropping the dose of sedation before RSI. But what evidence are these recommendations based on?

Today, we reviewed a paper aimed at providing some evidence on this question. Oh, and I offer a gratuitous plug for the ESO/P...