The Air Force Initial Flight Physical Checklist

The initial Air Force Flight Physical is a very stressful and uncertain time, and can determine whether you start down the path towards your dream job or not. The experience runs much smoother with a little bit of knowledge of the details and logistics. This blog was written to demystify the flight physical process, from arrival to the airport through your final discussion with the flight surgeon. Will you get a rectal exam or won’t you? Bring your own lube, just in case. If you are planning to be a pilot, CSO, loadmaster, PJ, flight surgeon, or are just curious what flyers go through, give this post a read.

The Resuscitation Truths

Medicine and the military have a lot in common. The Special Operations Forces (SOF) Truths not only inform the daily approach of the SOF community, but also apply well to medical / trauma resuscitation and Resuscitationists in EMS, Emergency Medicine, Critical Care, Anesthesia, HEMS, and more.

Lessons in Crisis Management from the Precipitous Delivery of my Own Newborn

Since I unexpectedly delivered and resuscitated my own newborn, I’ve been processing this adventure over and over. There are some themes and lessons learned that stick with me, which can apply not only to this scenario, but also to other crises and unexpected situations, from which I hope others can benefit. Stay calm. Take charge. Do the basics well. Work with what you got. Run at what scares you. Debrief with all involved.

Pararescue's Contribution to the Thai Cave Rescue, a podcast series

The rescue of the youth soccer team from a flooded cave in Thailand was a riveting tale of ingenuity and survival, one that was particularly fascinating to those of us involved in EMS, Fire, and rescue. If you want to hear the nitty gritty details that went on behind the scenes, listen to this series of podcasts in which Dr. Stephen Rush interviews the leader of the Air Force Pararescue team involved in the operation. Truly a remarkable back story that you didn’t read in the news.

Excellent Resources for Clinical and Personal Excellence

Here, I’ve compiled a repository of the podcasts, blogs, video lectures, and books to which I most often refer the excellence-seekers - the motivated hard-chargers in emergency medicine, EMS, HEMS, tactical medicine, and other operational fields - who are not only driven to be better, but who are also seeking additional resources to improve themselves and their practice.

Beyond MARCH: Rescue and Prolonged Field Care 1000 Miles from Anywhere

How would you, your team, or agency handle a situation where you not only had to access a patient far from anywhere, but then had to care for them for many hours, or even days, before exfiltration was possible?

This blog post summarizes the approach that US Air Force Pararescue uses for tactical medicine which is readily applicable to prolonged field care as well.

Operational EMS