CONTENTS

I - EMS Field Medications

II- Commonly Prescribed Medications: Classification

III- Commonly Prescribed Medications: Generic and Selected Brand Data

IV- Commonly Used Medicinal Herbs

V- Common Street Drugs

VI- Tables

 

For a Detailed Description of Content Included in the EMS Pocket Drug Guide and Example Pages from the Section I, Section III, and Section VI, see below.

 

            I-EMS Field Medications

This section provides a rapid reference for over 75 medications commonly used by pre-hospital providers.  Information includes:

-Generic and Brand Medication Names

-Uses

-Method of Action

-Dosing guidelines

-How it is dispensed (ie. Pill, IV Solution, etc)

-Contraindications

-Common side effects

-Drug-interactions

-Drug specific EMS pearls

 

II- Commonly Prescribed Medications: Classification

This section provides a breakdown by classification of the prescription/over-the-counter medications which are included in Section III. 

 

For example, is your patient not sure what Ace-Inhibitor they are taking?  This is the section that will help narrow down the possibilities!

 

III- Commonly Prescribed Medications: Generic and Selected Brand Data

This section provides a rapid reference for more than 1000 of the most commonly medications prescribed by health care professionals.  This data will allow you to tailor your treatment based on your patient's medication usage, which is increasingly important as more and more individuals start to take a large number of prescriptions.

Information includes:

-Generic and Brand Medication Names

-Uses

-Method of Action

-Dosing guidelines

-How it is dispensed (ie. Pill, lotion, etc)

-Contraindications

-Common side effects

-Drug-interactions

-Drug specific EMS pearls

-Overdose management

 

IV- Commonly Used Medicinal Herbs

This section provides information on some of the more common herbs used by individuals for medical purposes.  As an EMS provider, your patient history should always include any alternative treatments the patient may be using because many of them can have significant negative effects when combined with prescription medications.  This section will allow you to respond more effectively to a patient who is taking an herbal remedy and will allow you to become more familiar with these substances. 

 

Also included is a quick reference table of unsafe herbs with known toxicities and their clinical symptoms.

 

            V- Common Street Drugs

This section is designed for the provider to understand and deal with potentially illicit or so called "street drugs." These can include illegal substances or legitimate medical use substances that are modified or used solely for abuse purposes. This section provides information on the most common illicit drugs and substances, some of the more common "street names", and important actions and effects.

                       

            VI- Tables

This section has 18 tables with information related to medications and pre-hospital care and includes:

-Weight conversion table (lbs to kg and kg to lbs)

-The "Rule of 9's" and the Parkland Formula

-Adult and Pediatric Injury Severity Scores (Glasgow Coma scale and the Revised Trauma score)

-APGAR Score

-Substances with a General Overview of Treatment and Specific Antidotes for Poisoning and Overdose

-Information on over a dozen Bioterrorism Agents

-Rapid Sequence Induction (RSI) Intubation

-Adult and Pediatric Cardiac Algorithms