Grammar

Those of you who know me, know that I am active on several different EMS forums, including serving as admin staff over at www.EMTLife.com and a few EMS-focused Facebook groups.

One of the things that makes me cringe on a regular basis is the grammar and spelling used by entry-level members of my profession. This has become clearer as I spend time reviewing PCR's at work and at volunteer agencies. Today, I was on a conference call for work, and an executive pointed out that word choice and PLACEMENT matter quite a bit.

For example, lets look at how one can open their narrative: 

"Arrived to find patient lying in bed w/ FD medics."

vs.

"Arrived to find patient lying in bed, with FD medics providing care."

 Which makes you sound intelligent, and which makes you laugh? Is grammar more important now?


And, now for some levity, I give you Weird Al, a guy who's built his life around playing with words:

John Hinds and #ResusWankers

For those who read my smaccUS Day 1 blog, you know how much of an impact Dr. John Hind's lecture on a resuscitative thoracotomy had on me.

I was beyond shocked when I woke up on Saturday morning to find out (through Twitter, how else) that he had died. One of the last things I did before walking out of McCormick Place on Friday, at the end of SMACC, was to get a chance to shake Dr. Hind's hand. I actually walked partially out of the building with him, and I explained how he had changed my opinion of a local EM Physician who did the same procedure in our local ED. I can't claim to have known him well, but I do know he will be sorely missed in the FOAMed community.

We are united in grief at the passing of one of the best. RIP @DocJohnHinds pic.twitter.com/1FVa9cEjSY

— Saint Emlyn's (@stemlyns) July 4, 2015

A few points.
#1: John had been campaigning for an Air Ambualnce for Northern Ireland. There is a Change.org petition to push for the same thing, as a fitting memorial to him. I know online petitions are mostly useless, but this one is a great cause, so go ahead and sign it HERE.

#2: EmCrit has a podcast up with some never-before-heard audio from Dr. Hinds. Great stuff.

In Memory of our friend: Podcast 153 - @docJohnHinds - On How He Ran His Unit http://t.co/m6UcOM43Ga pic.twitter.com/WEhP4s10gZ

— Scott Weingart (@emcrit) July 5, 2015

#3: SMACC has put up the video for Dr. Hind's SMACC lecture on "Crack the Chest, Get Crucified". Go watch it.


#4: The RAGE Podcast (Resuscitationist's Awesome Guide to Everything) has re-posted John's 2014 smaccGOLD talk "Cases from the Races". Here is the audio combined with the slides in a video format. Fantastic lecture.