IFEM Capacitación

27/02/2026

Enviamos un fuerte abrazo a la familia, amigos y compañeros por la pérdida irreparable.

QEPD 🕊🚑

26/02/2026

Should vacuum mattresses be grouped with backboards?

Today we discuss a thoughtful new critique worth reading.

The recent NAEMSP spinal cord injury compendium by Millin et al. is an impressive and comprehensive piece of work, a much-needed synthesis of the evidence on spinal immobilization.

But a just-published letter to the editor in Prehospital Emergency Care by Billin & Lowe raises a nuance worth discussing: by defining "backboard" broadly enough to include vacuum mattresses, did the compendium inadvertently paint them with the same brush?

The numbers are interesting. Of 43 studies cited for harms of spinal immobilization, only 6 even mention vacuum mattresses.

And the methodology in several of those is questionable. One actually showed vacuum mattress pressures were significantly LOWER than unpadded spine boards, another used an outdated cervicothoracic collar setup that doesn't reflect modern practice.

This distinction matters, especially in austere and wilderness environments where non-ambulatory patients need to be moved over difficult terrain and there's no ambulance cot waiting nearby. Vacuum mattresses offer thermal insulation, better pressure distribution, superior stability, and portability that rigid boards simply can't match.

A 2025 review of 28 studies recommends vacuum mattresses over backboards to improve outcomes and reduce complications.

This is what good academic discourse looks like, a strong compendium inviting rigorous scrutiny that sharpens our understanding. The takeaway for medical directors: make sure your protocols distinguish between these devices rather than treating them as equivalent.

Right tool. Right scenario. Right patient.

📚 Read the full letter here:https://media.handtevy.com/website/Prehospital-Management-of-Suspected-Spinal-Cord-Injuries-Have-Vacuum-Mattresses-Been-Inappropriately-Maligned-.pdf

15/02/2026

15/02/2026

Muchas felicidades Frida Rojas Sánchez, te deseamos un muy feliz cumpleaños, que vengan grandes éxitos a tu vida.

Felicidades 🎂

10/02/2026

Menos es más?

A new study out of Australia looked at what happened after a statewide EMS system stopped using semi-rigid cervical collars and transitioned to soft collars for trauma patients.

Ambulance Victoria made the switch in 2021. This paper examined downstream effects at a major trauma center.

Here’s what they found:

📊 Imaging & clearance
• CT C-spine rates increased (93.9% vs 88.4%)
• Patients were 4× more likely to have their cervical spine cleared in the ED
• Only 21.6% of patients in soft collars left the ED still immobilized vs 53.2% with semi-rigid collars

🧠 Patient outcomes
• No statistically significant difference in spinal cord injury
• No meaningful difference in pressure sores
• No meaningful difference in hospital-acquired pneumonia

📉 Important limitations
• Not powered to detect very small differences in spinal cord injury.
• Single-center trauma study
• More elderly and fall-related trauma in the soft-collar group

🔎 Why this matters
Read on its own, this study shows that moving away from rigid collars did not lead to worse patient outcomes in a real-world EMS system.

Read alongside The National Association of EMS Physicians - Naemsp Trauma Compendium by Dr. Mike Millin and colleagues, it becomes more interesting.

The NAEMSP paper challenges the long-held assumption that post-injury spinal movement is the primary driver of delayed neurologic injury, and highlights stronger evidence for hypoperfusion, hypotension, and secondary ischemia, while also detailing the very real harms associated with immobilization.

The Australian data doesn’t resolve every question, but it shows what happens when a system acts on that evolving evidence.

No safety signal emerged.
But downstream care changed.

This study doesn’t end the cervical spine debate, but it helps EMS leaders place theory next to practice as they rethink how spinal protection should look in modern prehospital care.

Read the full study here:https://www.handtevy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/2024-Australian-Soft-Collar.pdf

05/02/2026

Un poco de humor 😅 jajajajaja

02/02/2026

‼️Nos vemos en Nuevo León 🦁‼️

"Manejo Avanzado de la Vía Aérea"

📆 26 de Abril
🚑 Dirigido al personal de Urgencias
⭕️ CUPO LIMITADO

02/02/2026

Nos vemos en Nuevo León 👏

Fortalece tus conocimientos y habilidades en el manejo de la vía aérea, con un enfoque teórico–práctico y actualizado.

📅 Fecha: 25 de abril de 2026
⏰ Horario: 09:00 a 17:00 hrs
📍 Lugar:
Juárez 304, Esq. Olivo
Col. López Mateos
Cadereyta Jiménez, N.L.
C.P. 67485

📚 Temario:
🔹 Vía aérea básica
🔹 Evaluación de la vía aérea
🔹 Posicionamiento
🔹 Técnicas de perixogenación
🔹 Laringoscopia directa
🔹 Farmacología en la intubación
🔹 Auxiliares y dispositivos extraglóticos
🔹 Videolaringoscopia
🔹 Técnica SALAD

✅ Incluye:
☕ Coffee break
📄 Constancia de participación

💰 Costo: $1,850 MXN
💳 Aparta tu lugar con solo el 50%

🎯 Dirigido a:
👨‍⚕️ Médicos
👩‍⚕️ Personal de enfermería
🚑 Paramédicos
🎓 Estudiantes de áreas afines
⚠️ Cupo limitado

¡No te quedes fuera y asegura tu lugar hoy mismo!

📲 Informes e inscripciones:
📞 814 536 4267
📞 442 616 3253

02/02/2026

Que tan bien usamos el Triagungulo de Evaluación Pediátrica?

How well does EMS use of the Pediatric Assessment Triangle (PAT) actually predict how sick a kid is?

This new study of nearly 3,000 pediatric EMS transports looked at real-world PAT documentation and what happened next—on scene, during transport, and in the ED.

Here are the key takeaways 👇
➡️ PAT scores of 2 or more were strongly associated with increased EMS interventions, ALS transport, and admission to the hospital. Kids with high PAT scores were 5x more likely to be admitted to ICU or need surgery compared to those with normal scores.
➡️ When work of breathing was abnormal, the odds of hospital admission doubled. Yet, about half of the patients who got respiratory treatments in the ED had a normal breathing score on the PAT—showing an opportunity for EMS training and QA.
➡️ Patients with normal PAT scores (score = 0) were mostly discharged home (83%), while only 50% of those with a score ≥2 went home.

Bottom line: EMS use of PAT appears to correlate well with how sick the patient really is—and may help guide decision-making and early intervention. PAT could also be a powerful tool for EMS quality improvement and education.

Full study:https://www.handtevy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Prehospital-PAT-Real-World-Data-EMS-Use-of-the-Pediatric-Assessment-Triangle-in-the-Prehospital-Environment.pdf

28/01/2026

‼️Feliz cumpleaños 🎂 Hiquingari, te deseamos lo mejor‼️

25/01/2026

‼️Estudia y trabaja tanto, hasta que…‼️

19/09/2025

🚑✨ En IFEM Capacitación celebramos a quienes, con entrega, valentía y conocimiento, salvan vidas en los momentos más críticos.

👨‍⚕️👩‍⚕️ ¡Feliz Día del Urgenciólogo! 🎉👏

Gracias por su pasión, compromiso y vocación en la atención de emergencias 🔥💪🩺