span class='searchhighlight2'> Daniel Patterson, PhD wins this year&#39;s EMPSF/SAEM Patient Safety Fellowship Grant. Over the next 12 months, Dr. Patterson will be exposed to intensive training led by Human Factors and Organizational Behavior Scientists at Purdue University. His training will focus on applying theoretical models and measurement techniques to EMS crew configuration and mixing. Dr. Patterson&#39;s research project will focus on examining the impact EMS employee turnover and EMS crew mixing has on patient safety indicators. <br /> <br /> See the following link for a winner&#39;s photo at the SAEM annual business meeting on May 31, 2008. <br /> <br /> http://www.saem.org/saemdnn/Meetings/2008AnnualMeeting/AMPreSchedule2008/tabid/1090/Default.aspx

span class='searchhighlight2'> Pui (Veni) Kong, PhD has joined the Department of Emergency Medicine and the Emergency Responder Human Performance Lab as a visiting Assistant Professor. Most recently a faculty member at the University of Texas El Paso, Dr Kong will be applying her experience in biomechanics to study problems of gait and balance in emergency responders working in protective equipment. This work will directly improve the health and wellness of firefighters and public safety personnel by reducing injuries on the fireground.

span class='searchhighlight2'> Dr. Jon Rittenberger was awarded the Best Fellow Research Presentation at the National Association of EMS Physicians meeting in Phoenix. His presentation, entitled “Increasing CPR duration prior to first defibrillation does not improve return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) or survival in a swine model of prolonged ventricular fibrillation,” demonstrates that varying durations of CPR before defibrillation do not generate adequate coronary perfusion pressure after 5-8 minutes of untreated ventricular fibrillation. These data provide increasing evidence that vasopressors are needed during prolonged cardiac arrest.

span class='searchhighlight2'> Dr. Jon Rittenberger was chosen as a finalist for the prestigious Cournand and Comroe Young Investigator Award in Cardiopulmonary, Perioperative and Critical Care at the American Heart Association’s annual meeting last week. His presentation, entitled “Increasing CPR duration prior to first defibrillation does not improve return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) or survival in a swine model of prolonged ventricular fibrillation,” demonstrates that an isolated intervention of increasing CPR before defibrillation did not improve outcome. “Our new results also provide physiologic data that illustrate CPR alone will not generate enough cardiac blood flow to achieve return of circulation. We have previously shown that lab experiments give drugs 9.5 minutes after arrest, while clinical trials give drugs 19 minutes after arrest. This may be one reason that survival in the lab after cardiac arrest is excellent while clinical studies continue to show poor results,” says Rittenberger. <br />

span class='searchhighlight2'> Daniel Patterson, PhD, MPH, EMT-B will be conducting a study to examine the costs associated with employee turnover in rural EMS agencies. According to a recent GAO report, the costs associated with providing Emergency Medical Services (EMS) transportation in rural areas are