I‘be been out of EMS for more than 20 years. The last big trend we had in BLS airway management was combitubes, and the last big thing in ALS were the studies being done with RSI. Has anything interesting evolved in “the future of airway management” since I’ve been away?

I became a psych nurse, doing primarily mobile crisis intervention. Same basic idea as EMS; stabilize in field and transport, only with psychotherapeutic measures and psychiatric drugs instead of all the cool stuff I got to play with in EMS.

Also, the last big thing in ACLS was that the world supply of Bretylium was drying up, what ever happened with that? There were several candidates for new drugs.

Other questions: do we still do manual CPR on long hauls or did they ever come out with a simple device to deliver high quality chest compressions?

Anything new in trauma? Did they ever come out with anything better than the flexible splint like a pneumatic mechanism, or is it still the gold standard?

Cric kits: issued to medics or no?

Did EMT-Bs ever get to start using pulse oximeters? (I’m pretty sure the answer is yes!) If so, when?

Did they ever settle the fentanyl vs. morphine debate?

Do ALS units still carry meperidine? Does anybody new to EMS even know what meperidine is?

Are BLS providers carrying naloxone intranasal? What about intramuscular? What about ALS?

Oh god, the flood gates are open. I have so many more. I haven’t even thought about this in twenty plus years, and I’d rather hear from humans than GPT at this point.

Thanks ahead of time!