What is Prehospital Case Review?
EMS clinicians make some of the most consequential decisions in medicine - often alone, in the dark, with incomplete information and no backup.
This newsletter exists to help make those decisions a little better.
Every issue of Prehospital Case Review breaks down a real prehospital case: what happened, why it happened, what the evidence actually says, and what the learning points are.
Think of it as the prehospital equivalent of the case-based education that medical students, nurses, and physicians have long relied on - from M&M conferences to grand rounds to continuing education. That same rigor, applied to the calls that we run on.
As an EMT and paramedic, some of my most valuable learning happened when a physician took the time to debrief a call - breaking down the decisions, the evidence, and the reasoning behind it all. Those conversations stuck with me (even to this day), and this is my attempt to do the same thing, at scale, with a deeper dive into the evidence.
Now as an EMS physician, I write this because EMS clinicians deserve the same educational investment and quality of case-based education that our hospital-based colleagues have had for decades.
- Dr. Mike
Have a Case You Want Reviewed?
If you’ve run a call that stuck with you - one that went sideways, raised questions, or just made you think - I want to hear about it.
Submit an anonymized summary and I’ll consider it for a future issue of Prehospital Case Review. No names, no dates, no identifying information. Just the call: emsdrmike@gmail.com.
A few ground rules:
No patient names, dates of birth, or identifying details
No agency names, locations, or unit numbers
No provider names or identifying information
Stick to the clinical facts - what was dispatched, what you found, what you did
If images such as ECGs are included, please make sure there are no patient identifiers attached
All submissions are reviewed for de-identification before publication. Submitting a case does not guarantee publication.
Who am I?
Michael DeFilippo, DO, FAAEM
Hi, I’m Mike - a dual board-certified EMS and emergency medicine physician, and I’ve been in and around ambulances for most of my adult life.
Long before medical school, I spent nearly a decade working as an EMT and paramedic. Those years shaped how I think about patients, systems, and what it actually means to deliver care under pressure - and they’re the reason I do what I do today.
I hold dual appointments as Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine and Assistant Professor in the School of Public Health at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. My scholarship sits at the crossroads of prehospital cardiac arrest, obstetric emergencies in EMS, systems of care, implementation science, and medical education.
I’m also proud to serve as Medical Director for Overrun Productions, an EMS podcast and continuing medical education platform created by two of my old field training officers - Dan and Ed - alongside a crew of paramedic friends I professionally came up with. Watching the people who trained me build something that now educates prehospital clinicians nationwide is one of my favorite things to be a part of.
At the national level, I’m a prior elected member of the Board of Directors for the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM), faculty with the Protected Airway Collaborative, and remain active within SAEM, the National Association of EMS Physicians (NAEMSP), and the American Academy of Emergency Medicine (AAEM).
This Substack is where I’ll share case reviews, education content, research updates, and honest takes on prehospital medicine. Glad you’re here.
