(Part 2) Best emergency medical services books according to redditors

I would suggest Emergency Pathophysiology

Emergency medicine secrets is great! Super high yield and a relatively fast read.

https://www.amazon.com/Emergency-Medicine-Secrets-Vincent-Markovchick/dp/0323355161

Here's a few more links to things I also found on Amazon

• EMT Flashcard book
  
• 12-Lead ECG: The Art of Interpretation (We used this book during my cardiology semester of Paramedic school)
  
• EMS Pocket Drug Guide
  
• BLS Field Guide
  
• ALS Field Guide
  
• Emergency & Critical Care Pocket Guide
  
• PALS Pocket Reference Card
  
• A Quick Study Guide
  
• A book called "Fresh Out of EMT School" (I haven't read it but all of the reviews were positive and said it was helpful)
  
• A book called "Lights and Sirens: The Education of a Paramedic (Also haven't read this one, but I was recommended it and have heard good things)

if you are really weak and want an excellent overview and explanation, I would actually go with the Pathophysiology of Heart disease by Lilly. Currently on the 6th edition. https://www.amazon.com/Pathophysiology-Heart-Disease-Collaborative-Students-ebook/dp/B010TREQ7Q

Boards and Beyond may be good, but this book is probably better if you are looking for something beyond just a video.

My flight program requires that our medics obtain these certifications - so I have had to help out many of them getting through these exams.

What I can recommend is a multi-angled approach.

First, consider a review book - this will just provide an outline of what material is testable. Of the ones I've looked at, the The Resource and Study Guide for Critical Care Clinicians is the best one of the ones I've seen. Expensive though.

Next you'll need an actual text to help fill in the blanks. Critical Care Transport 2ed is a solid text - and this edition is brand new. Honestly though, if you can get an older edition for cheap, I'd just do that.

Critical Care Transport Core Cirriculum is an intriguing book - joint project between ASTNA and the IAFCCP. I haven't seen it personally, but I've heard good things, and it's also quite pricy.

Next I would consider a mechanical ventilation text - the vent section of most CCT textbooks is pretty scant. I enjoy the FlightBridge vent text - Ventilator Management: A Pre-Hospital Perspective.

Next you'll want something with lots of practice questions. For this I like the IAFCCP practice text: IAFCCP Critical Care Exam Review. There are other ones, like the well known Will Wingfield book which are also worthwhile. You can't go wrong with lots of practice questions.

Don't forget the riveting CAMTS 10th Edition Guidelines. Read those. Try not to fall asleep.

Finally, podcasts - consider podcasts specifically from FlightBridge as you mentioned, but also Meducation Specialists. They both provide lots of great info and each have a series speaking specifically to exams.

Hopefully this gives you a good start.

Good luck!

I don't have a favorite, I have a long list of favorites. Listed below is a good starter selection. Lucifer's Hammer is the book that probably most directly led to the path I am on today. I have always liked science fiction and read it long before I would have ever called myself a prepper.


Fiction, to make you think:

• Lucifer's Hammer by Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven
  
• Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse by James Wesley, Rawles
  
• Lights Out by David Crawford
  
  Self Defense:
  
  
• Boston's Gun Bible by Boston T. Party (Kenneth W. Royce)
  
  Sustainable Living:
  
  
• The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery
  
• Gardening When It Counts: Growing Food in Hard Times by Steve Solomon
  
• Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving by Altrista Consumer Products
  
  Health and First Aid:
  
  
• Where There Is No Doctor by David Werner, Jane Maxwell and Carol Thuman
  
• First Aid -- Responding To Emergencies by the American Red Cross
  
  Free Your Mind:
  
  
• The Most Dangerous Superstition by Larken Rose
  

Kent Olson's book: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0071668330/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1491141070&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=kent+olson+toxicology&dpPl=1&dpID=51IVQR%2BtepL&ref=plSrch

A new edition is coming out later this year.

I'd recommend an app/book- the chief complaint.

When you are told about a patient, quickly pull up the relevant chapter, look at the flowcharts, and realize what you have to rule-in/rule-out.

If you are really interested in EM I suggest picking up the Case Files book which will teach you how to approach the most common cases (e.g. abdominal pain, chest pain, etc.). There is also the EMRA pocket guide which is inexpensive and works as a quick reference for the most common things you'll see. It has all the "must-ask" questions, the differentials that are most-common and most-dangerous, and disposition answers. These together should be less than $50.

I have quite a few suggestions.

Specifically for nurses:

1. Schaum's Outline of Emergency Nursing: 242 Review Questions - Not my favorite one, but it serves as an ok reference.
   
   
2. Emergency Nursing Made Incredibly Easy - Love this one.
   
   
3. Saunders Nursing Survival Guide: Critical Care & Emergency Nursing - I like this one because it touches ICU as well as ER nursing.
   
   The following books are more for med students and MD's but I believe as nurses we need to understand rationales behind what MD's do, so these are good references:
   
   
4. Case Files Emergency Medicine - Goes over a number of cases involving common complaints seen in the ER, assessment findings, treatments, etc for those cases. By far my favorite book in my ER Library.
   
   
5. Emergency Medicine Secrets - doesn't have case studies like the book above, but goes more in detail about common and uncommon complaints seen in the ER.
   
   Miscellaneous books:
   
   
6. Rapid Interpretation of EKG's - as an ER nurse you'll need to constantly interpret the EKG of patients that are on the cardiac monitor to bring any changes to the attention of the MD. It really helps if you can identify those rhythms and this book is really easy to understand.
   
   Also consider subscribing to some journals. I'm subscribed to a few of them.
   
   
7. The Journal of Emergency Nursing
   
   
8. Nursing2016 Critical Care
   
   
9. Nursing2016
   
   I'm an ER medicine nerd, so I love reading this stuff but by no means do you need to have all these books. I just enjoy learning as much as I can about EM.

I suppose it might not be much help to non-Canadians, but Case Studies for Paramedics is considered an essential textbook for us here in Ontario. Medical and Trauma calls, covering everything from MIs to explosion patients. Good layout and format.

Hey friend, notsure if this is what you're looking for, but I've been a working paramedic for 5 years and I still look through this every so often. It's Canadian based, but the idea is still the same.

https://www.amazon.ca/Case-Studies-Paramedics-Kevin-Branch/dp/0132070014/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?keywords=Paramedic+book&qid=1571795265&sr=8-3

If the link doesn't work, it's called Case Studies for Paramedics by Kevin Branch. I use it to run my guys through medical scenarios.

Tidy's Physiotherapy is a good general text.

As for other things you could do to prepare I would suggest:

a) Try and hone your musculoskeletal anatomy as sharp as possible, literally the more you know the easier your first year will be. Prioritise memorising the articulating bones and bony points, and muscles and their attachments and you will have a massive headstart on everyone else.

b) Similar for physiology - prioritise cardiovascular system, respiratory system, musculoskeletal, and CNS in broad terms.

The Physiotherapist's Pocket Book is a good resource for what kind of things to learn by rote - and lists a lot of very useful essential knowledge, but is designed for people who already know and just need reminding rather than learning from.

c) Dip into neurology a bit further and start familiarising yourself with some concepts, as this may be the area most different from exercise science. Basic neuroanatomy and reading about some common disorders (MS, CVA, Parkinsons).

d) Get used to palpation and generally being 'hands-on'. You will become very intimate with your fellow students - the quicker you lose any nerves the more you will get out of it.

e) Visit and shadow some physiotherapists if possible - creating a rapport with patients is half the job and you can learn a lot from observing, particularly body-language, patter, what questions to ask and how to frame them. Depending on your course you may not be going on placement in the first term, but the people skills needed are very difficult to learn from a book.

The most useful books other than the above for me were basic medical anatomy and physiology textbooks which you may know already. I used Tortora and Sherwood, but there are other similar and just as good. Instead of buying one of those tomes it may be better to browse a library for a more specific text when you need it, though.

Also buy this book it’s awesome
https://www.amazon.com/Pocket-Emergency-Medicine-Notebook/dp/1451190654

Set of shears that you'll lose a few months in.

Mini-mag

Mini-eye chart (or an app for that).

Some sort of guide that breaks up differentials by presentations / symptoms - EM BASIC pdf or Pocket notebook

A sense of humor.

It would help to know what state/country you’re specifically in, since protocols differ between widely even in the US.

In NYS we have a protocols app, which has doc numbers, peds/adult protocols, BLS to ALS etc.

If you don’t mind carrying an extra booklet on you, InforMed has a great booklet for BLS on Amazon.
Link: https://www.amazon.com/EMS-Field-Guide-BLS-Version/dp/1284041093

I used this book http://www.amazon.com/EMT-Basic-Interactive-Flashcards-Preps-Premium/dp/0738601233/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1426386304&sr=8-5&keywords=emt+test+prep

It's a little outdated for things that change (e.g. CPR) but the general knowledge stuff is great. It explains why each other answer is wrong.

Edit: Upon doing some further searching, it looks like there's a newer one from 2013. Not sure if there any actual changes but worth a look.

As a paramedic intern: absolutely, 100%, get these books:

https://www.amazon.com/12-Lead-ECG-Interpretation-Tomas-Garcia/dp/0763712841

https://www.amazon.com/12-Lead-Acute-Critical-Care-Providers-ebook/dp/B00HZVN0RW/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=bob+page&qid=1570204190&sr=8-1

You can find cheaper copies on ebay

Nancy Caroline's Emergency Care in the Streets is the "national registry" text book. And it's fairly decent. If you read it cover to cover and have half a brain you should pass national registry no problem.

Study whatever your state has published for drug protocols and treatment guidelines.

While I'm sure you saw a lot of EKG's at the hospital you worked at you still need to read Dubin's Rapid Interpretation and should probably get a practice book like Jane Huff's ECG Workout If you actually faithfully do Jane Huffs book cover to cover there is virtually no way you will fail statics or dynamics. And if you faithfully read Dubin's, including all the silly things he makes you do, you'll come out having a good knowledge of EKGs.

I read through these to freshen up the week before and passed the written.
http://www.amazon.com/Emergency-Medical-Technician-Course-Preparation/dp/0738610062/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1452807207&sr=1-1&keywords=nremt
http://www.amazon.com/EMT-Flashcard-Book-Test-Preparation/dp/0738611301/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=1C2MAX591KKSRT6FDG5N
http://www.amazon.com/Emergency-Medical-Technician-Quick-Academic/dp/1423218639/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=1C2MAX591KKSRT6FDG5N

EMTPrep on Youtube also has all of the NREMT Skills recorded so you can check them out before the psychomotor. However, and this may be a fluke. The coordinator I scheduled a psychomotor test with said that I have to be knowledgable of the NREMT skills as well as the Texas skills... I have no idea what that means but she did mention there will be 11 skills tested.

You mean like this?

This is a really good general info book on emergency nursing focus areas. http://www.amazon.com/Saunders-Nursing-Survival-Guide-Emergency/dp/141606169X/

Hard to give you more specific since ED is all sorts of variety. Anything from a sore ankle to a coding patient with hypovolemic shock.

I recommend the My First Human Body Coloring Book.

Nancy Caroline's Emergency Care in the Streets is always a classic of course. Let's read aloud now, together:

>One fine day, Sidney Sinus dispatched Mortimer Messenger with the usual order: "Depolarize the ventricles". Mortimer scampered down the atria without difficulty but arrived at the AV node to find a pile of debris blocking the entrance to the ventricles. "Sorry," said AV Abe, "we're closed for repairs."

Brilliant. Incisive prose. Even the littlest ambulance driver can save lives by following along!