Tomorrow I will be volunteering all day at the SFPA Conference The ABCs of Emergency Medicine.

The only bummer is that it is 12:30am right now, and I have to be there ready to go at 7am, which means a cool 5:30am wake up call for me (factors in time to shower in the am and then a major cushion of time to deal with unreliable SF Muni bus system to get there). Blergh. However, when the director of the SFPA asks you to volunteer, you clear your schedule and do what it takes to volunteer!

One thing I am learning as an newbie EMT is that there are about a zillion ways to get involved in EMS. Perhaps because EMS is a relatively new branch of medicine, there seems to be this incredible abundance of opportunities for those want the exposure. One aspect in particular which I am hoping to get involved with in the near future is the research side of things. I find it fascinating how quickly EMS protocols develop and change- again, because it is such a new field, there is so much room for development. For example, ALREADY (and I have only been out of school 5 months!) the protocols that I learned for tourniquet application have updated and completely changed. Crazy, right? With any luck in the next few months I’ll be able to network my way into SF General’s trauma research center, or somewhere similar.

The nice thing about “working” the conference is the chance to see all these incredible speakers for free! The SFPA seems to put on at least one or two great lectures each month, tomorrow’s conference being the biggest. It seems like a few of the presentations will be over my head (more geared towards CCT nurses, etc), however there are a bunch of lectures which I am psyched to observe.

Here is what Linus thinks of me spending my day at the conference:

Also, off topic, but check out Earl’s new haircut! Doesn’t he look handsome?

G’night!