Five Questions With: Dave Lapof and Margaret Strozyk, Oregon EMS Conference

State EMS conferences are a valuable resource for both providers who want to improve and leaders building speaking reputations, and for most folks they’re typically closer to home than national showsand more budget-friendly to attend. Their educational programs are important. For insight into how that program is assembled at one state show, the latest Five Questions With quizzed Margaret Strozyk and Dave Lapof of the Oregon EMS Conference. 

The Oregon EMS Conference is an independent conference, driven by volunteers and not affiliated with the state. Lapof has been a member of the show’s conference committee since 1999, Strozyk since 2015.

The Oregon EMS Conference is Sept. 27–29 in Salem. For more information: www.oregonemsconference.com. 

EMS World: As you assembled this year’s program, what were your goals and priorities?

Strozyk: My goal for every conference is to provide topics that are rarely taught at other conferences, yet highly sought after by our EMS providers. I ask EMS professionals from around the state, “What are the topics you really want to learn about and would attend a conference for?” 

We gather a large variety of topics and work to find instructors who can teach with a wealth of knowledge and experience. We also try to provide classes that cover all the training requirements for the Oregon biannual EMS certification refresher.

Lapof: First and foremost we try to stay on the leading edge of what’s coming next to prehospital care. We look for a mixture of innovation of skills, such as this year’s preconference course on EFAST, the extended focused assessment with sonography for trauma, with Brion Benninger, MD, of the Western University of Health Sciences. During our main two-day conference, we bracket it with our general session topics. This year those are Dr. Ray Fowler’s “The Future of Resuscitation,” Tim Dietz’s “Anger Interrupted: A Responder’s Guide for Dealing With Agitated Humans,” Benninger’s “Is It Time to Rethink Our Protocols? Looking at a Nontraditional Ways to Render Patient Care,” and “The Joy of EMS” with Steve Berry. When we look at these together we see the progression of a day in the field: new trends, mental health, new diagnostics, and finally some humor to remind us the shift is over for now. 

We look to make sure we have BLS, ILS, and ALS classes spread evenly over each breakout period. We average 25 different speakers each year, so we don’t do a lot of repeat sessions or use the same speaker too many times during the conference. We want to offer a lot of variety. 

Secondly, one of our growing goals is to make sure we are meeting the needs of the rural field provider. For a number of years now we’ve offered two separate four-hour sessions on Sunday to cater to the volunteer provider. One is on best practices for the rural ambulance agency. This covers topics like billing, record compliance, data entry, volunteer recruitment, funding opportunities, and mobile integrated healthcare in an informal roundtable setting. 

The other offering is four hours of hands-on skills focusing on the BLS provider. In years past this has been an MCI class with live student patients. We also have done a rotation of skill stations where we have four different medical or trauma scenarios with real patients, and the students rotate through in small groups and render care in a team approach. We have also used high-fidelity sim manikins to further test the ILS and ALS providers with “get your gloved hands dirty” types of classes. 

Do you target speakers/solicit proposals or generally rely on what’s submitted? What happens if you need additional content in a certain area?

Strozyk: We do both and pull from our existing extensive bank of instructors. When we have a topic we want presented and don’t have a speaker for, we start contacting people in connection with other medical professionals. 

Sometimes it takes a while to get a topic covered. For example, bariatrics was a topic that took us a few years to find an instructor for. Determination has paid off, and this year we have a class on this much-needed topic. We try to keep our speaker list fresh and nonrepeating for 3–4 years.

Lapof: We use an extensive network of feedback from both attendees and field providers along with input from individuals who have either presented or attended other conferences around the country. We also rely on our vendors to bring us suggestions. This year one of our speakers was recommended by one of our local supervising physicians who is on the board of NAEMSP. 

A group of us will sit and look at what we have for topics and speakers and see how it fits current needs and matches up to CME requirements for both Oregon and NREMT. We may have a topic and ask around on who can present, or we have a lengthy phone conversation with a speaker about what they see as the next trend coming to EMS or what topic is current with them. 

We solicit a lot of input. Last year we gave a new paramedic class a list of three airway topics and asked them to pick one. We gave them credit in the brochure for their choice too. We’ll ask attendees at lunch which classes they took and what they liked or didn’t, and this drives next year’s topics. We do a survey for each session and take that feedback. We also look to see if any of the presenters has spoken at any of our smaller regional conferences. Often they use our speakers, so we try not to follow what has already occurred locally. If we see a speaker making the circuit nationally, we tend not to follow, as the information can be stale by the time we get to September. 

What topics are people most interested in? What’s likely to fill seats?

Strozyk: Nearly any class on the following: cardiology, respiratory, pediatrics, geriatrics, hands-on, new scopes of practice, the newest drugs, and the latest and exciting research. 

Lapof: One of our biggest challenges is trying to figure out what folks will want to hear about in six months. This goes back to asking other providers what’s new and what they need to provide the best patient care they can. If they could pick any class, what would it be? That actually has helped drive some of our decision-making process. Of course pediatrics, geriatrics, and pharmacology classes always seem to be a big draw. We have a small group of attendees each year that loves data and outcomes, so we always try to have at least one session on that. We have local folks that are part of national groups that work on research, so that really helps bring that information back to Oregon. Our state EMS office brings additional resources to us also. 

With bariatrics what we were looking for was focused on the difficulties of patient care and treatment: medical challenges the paramedic might encounter, how they’re going to administer medications, intubate, gain venous access, what’s the reaction or delay of a medication to take effect in such a large third space of tissue, and so on. We have a presentation this year we hope achieves all of this: “The Bariatric Patient: When the Needle Isn’t Big Enough,” with Dr. Fowler. This is classic example of talking to the presenter, explaining what we were looking for, and coming up with a program if they don’t have one already. 

Conferences increasingly seem to offer educational options outside the traditional hourlong lecture format (e.g., preconferences, postconferences, site visits, ride-alongs, etc.). What’s the benefit of that, and what other kinds of delivery mechanisms can you use?

Strozyk: Alternative methods of learning are very important. Lectures are great, but we all learn differently. EMS is a hands-on job as well, and a listening job. If every EMT just sat through lectures, they might all learn to be good listeners, but they’d have a greater chance of struggling with the hands-on portion of their work. 

We try to offer multiple learning methods to meet the needs of EMS providers. One way we do that is through our pre- and postconference offerings, which, allow for smaller groups to be more hands-on. Last year we incorporated a few hands-on classes in the main conference, and they were very well received. 

Ride-alongs and site visits are very valuable as well. Being able to put eyes on what you’ve learned in the classroom and then hopefully have the hands-on experience is some of the most valuable training medical providers can have. 

Lapof: A number of years back we had two individuals presenting who shared with us a trend to move to 20-minute “fast break” presentations. We went the other way for one year and tried 70-minute breakouts to fit NREMT recertification better. We don’t do that anymore. 

But after seeing what FlightBridgeED did with its FAST18 symposium and knowing some of those folks, we are trying some 20-minute presentations this year. The initial buzz seems positive so far. We know learning styles are changing. We have integrated interactive processes to some presentations, where you text your questions or use clickers, and there are slide presentations the instructor can change on the fly as the group discussion dictates. 

We always offer lots of hands-on in our pre- and postconference tracks. These are great classes but require lots of logistics. Our wet and dry simulation (cadaver lab) is one example. Last year we added to our two-day conference six hours of hands-on skills within the main conference, the B-CON course as well as an IO skills piece that covered some of the recent scope of practice changes in Oregon for the AEMT. 

We’ve looked at holding topic-specific one-day miniconferences but haven’t made that move yet. The Oregon EMS and Trauma Systems office holds its annual awards banquets in conjunction with our show, which keeps us anchored together, so we aren’t too anxious to redesign our program from the ground up. We don’t promote it, but if anyone contacts us about doing a ride-along visit with the local EMS agency, we certainly have the resources to facilitate that. 

What advice can you give aspiring speakers? What are the key factors in creating a good proposal and getting it selected?

Strozyk: Know your topic. It’s important to have a well-rounded understanding about your topic and have good experience behind it as well—it will show when you speak. 

Also learn to be an engaging speaker; adding humor to your topic is always a bonus. Learn to engage your audience, capture their attention from the very beginning and keep them focused and learning throughout the entire lesson. When you learn this, you will have people asking you to come back to instruct again. 

Practice your lesson so you can work out the kinks. Ending your lesson on time is huge in conferences. If you’re only halfway through your lesson when your time is up, it leaves your audience hanging and leaves a lot to be said about one’s focus and time management. 

Having a positive and energetic attitude sets a good vibe. Be of good moral character and treat everyone with respect. It will show in everything you do and can dictate whether you’re asked back or not. 

Lapof: First and foremost tell us what you see as the new trends, new challenges, and new research as it relates to the field provider. 

We are much different than many national conferences in that we don’t require outlines or PowerPoint programs before the event. We see our speakers attending other speakers’ sessions and changing up their program to better fit the group or not repeat what another speaker presents. That allows the information to be fresh and relevant. 

Being passionate about your topic and having the street cred to back it up is what makes a presenter stand out. We have had excellent presenters try new material, and sometimes it works and sometimes not. We discuss it with them and give them another shot. We also are anxious to mix in new presenters and let folks give it try. We share our session evaluations and are candid with feedback. 

What really scores brownie points with me is getting me your bio, a paragraph on your topic, and contact information right off the bat. I cannot begin to tell you how many 15-page CVs I’ve taken and whittled down to two-paragraph bios to fit the brochure. 

Finally, almost all of our committee members are current licensed EMS providers or have been, so when we talk to speakers, we can drill down into the subject matter and challenge them on what we’re looking for, which creates a better program for everyone.