Hello all,

EMSstudent started as a fairly straightforward project.  A few classmates and I realized early into our education that there were a lot of online resources available for paramedic students, but they were scattered all over the Internet.   Even more importantly, very few students knew they existed, so they were largely (in our opinion) underutilized.

This website started as a way to amalgamate those resources, and make them easily accessible to our fellow students…but has since grown into much more.

Over the last few months, our focus has been to develop and organize as much content as possible.  We’ve collected over 50 12-lead and lead II ECGs, large number of quizzes (pharmacology and general knowlege), and more recently, a monthly Digest made up of articles from students, paramedics, pre-hospital care researchers and physicians.  The site has grown and changed in ways we hadn’t imagined, and it’s been an exciting experience along the way.

Over the next few months there are going to be some changes to the site.  We’ve decided that the best focus of our time and energy will be to develop a database of scenarios (both online and in printable format) that will highlight specific skills, situations and pathophysiology for First Responders, PCP students, and Paramedics alike.  These scenarios will be presented in an interactive format online, but will also have the option to be printed so they can be used in hands-on, practical training.  We’re excited to start building a database for students and educators to draw from, and are looking forward to the continued feedback and input from the EMS community to make these scenarios the best they can be for future paramedics.

We are also planning to expand our monthly Digest and will continue recruiting leading authors in the Emergency Medicine and Pre-Hospital Care community to provide the highest level articles and information for the site.  Upcoming Digest projects include interviews with Base Hospital physicians, Ornge paramedics, and recently hired PCPs who will share their insight into the AEMCA, the hiring process, and some of the common obstacles they’ve faced entering this profession.

All the previous content posted on the site will stay on our servers, and we encourage new visitors to the site to spend some time going through the archived ECGs, Quizzes and Articles.  At the end of the day, I’m tremendously excited at how far this site has come in a few short months, and I look forward to what the future will bring.  As always, your feedback, contributions and support are appreciated.  Please leave a comment below or email me directly at mike@emsstudent.ca with any thoughts you may have.

Mike