Thanks for joining us! This is Miles with Best Practice Medicine. Today's post is another in our series covering extremity immobilization and splinting. In this, and the next few posts, we'll be covering immobilization of the lower extremities, including knees, ankles, and feet, and the upper and lower legs. Watch the video or read along below!

So far in this series (view Part One here; Part Two here), we've given an overview of vital signs. In this next segment, we'll go into what they represent in terms of patient physiology and clinical significance. Watch the video below or keep reading to dive in.

Obtaining a good set of vitals early and often is a key role of pre-hospital life support professionals as it provides a trend to contextualize patient improvement or deterioration. Whether you're a brand new EMT or a seasoned EMS professional these are the fundamentals you want to learn and master. Today, we're going to be doing a brief overview of fundamental vital signs, what they represent, why they're important to our clinical practice, and how to obtain them. (Watch the video below or keep reading!).

Are you interested in nursing, paramedicine, or medical school? Perhaps you want to become a ski patroller or a mountain, hunting, or whitewater guide? Learning to care for the sick and injured is an essential skill in these and other exciting careers--and a great way to launch a career in medicine or outdoor recreation. This Montana EMT course will help you stand out for future employers as a emergency medicine expert!

Want to learn the ins and outs of performing a Rapid Trauma Assessment (RTA)? This vital skill for all EMT and EMS professionals is also invaluable for anybody in compromising emergency medical situations. Learn how to assess unresponsive individuals in the event that you witness or come upon a traumatic accident. A proper RTA can give Emergency Responders critical information when they arrive, and consists of a quick inventory of all the body systems to identify injured ones. Read on or watch the video below.

Last month (Feburary 8) we ran an EMS refresher course for a fantastic group of EMTs and Paramedics here at our training campus in Bozeman. As a part of that training refresher, we created a full-on dynamic, emergency medical, rescue task force simulation based around a post active-shooter scenario. It included realistic props, obscure environments, and volunteer actors/trained medical professionals wearing full moulage makeup. This kind of hyper-realistic, immersive, simulation based education helps teams prepare mentally and physically for high consequence encounters.