Evidence of Learning #5

Date: February 20, 2019

Subject: Emergency Medicine

Analysis:

Last month, the Frisco Style Magazine published an article on a new protocol that was
made describing the procedure to perform amputations in the field. Upon reading this article, I
learned many things, like what causes the need to put new protocols in place and many of the
small things you have to worry about while working in the field. In past years, the Frisco Fire
Department noticed an increasing need in a protocol to perform amputations in the field due to
the increased amounts of construction and accidents that occur there. Sometimes there are
situations where a patient is trapped in a machine and they are not able to take it apart to get
them out, this is where amputations come in handy. Something that I also found interesting was
that since there was a helicopter flying above with Facebook Live footage, they had to cover the
victim with a tarp to keep within the patient confidentiality laws.

This information is important and relevant to me because in the real world, EMTs and
Paramedics will have to stay up with things like this and especially something as big as this.
Another reason for me to pay attention to things like this is because my mentor is the main
facilitator of projects like this. Since he is a Deputy Chief and focused his career on emergency
medicine, the department relies on him to put these sorts of things together and make sure they
are done right and it will be such a great experience for me to be able to witness these things.

While reading this article, I was surprised to find that they had to fly one of the trauma
surgeons, Dr. West, from Medical City Plano to meet the personnel who were already at the
scene to be able to complete an amputation. It really surprised me that they had time for one
doctor to get in a helicopter and the other to be able to drive to the location, however, the
paramedics who were there had already applied a tourniquet to prevent blood loss and drugs to
reduce the pain. Another thing I found to be interesting was that they had only started training
two months before the call and were not quite 100 percent on it. However, with the little training
they had, everything went very smoothly and the patient made a full recovery.

After reading this article, there were a couple of questions that came up, such as, what
sort of preparation did the doctors and Chief Vetterick have to do for this amputation protocol to
become a reality? The article mentions briefly that there was tons of preparation that had to be
done and that training had to be done but it never goes into specifics, I would like to know how
they came up with their basic ideas and the development of this protocol. I would also like to
know how this procedure is done in the hospital versus in the field. I am curious to find out if
there are different tools or procedures that are used in the hospital and can not be used in the
field and how they overcame this challenge.

This information matters to my in my ISM experience because there is a possibility that I

will be witnessing this happen first hand. Hopefully no one will have to lose their limb but to me,
it will be very interesting to see how the procedure is done, how long it can take and precautions
that need to be taken to ensure patient survival. Since my mentor is mentioned a lot in this
article, since he helped put this protocol into action, it is good for me to read and see what all he
can do in his role and will also give me the opportunity to learn from what he does and ask my
questions.