08/06/2026
If you've worked in medicine, you've probably heard the saying, "Medicine is constantly changing. If you don't change with it, you'll get left behind."
There is science behind everything we do. But medicine isn't a perfect science, it comes with ongoing research and knowledge that is constantly evolving. What we believed to be the best practice years ago may not be what we know to be best today.
When I started in EMS in 1997, there was a group of paramedics called the "old medics." (Or, as I liked to joke, they had been here since Jesus was a baby! 😂) They drank their coffee black EVERY morning, most of them smoked, dipped, or chewed some form of to***co, and they could handle any call that came their way without breaking a sweat. They were the ones we all looked up to.
Fast forward nearly 30 years...and somehow, I've become one of the "old medics”, drinking my coffee black every morning (didn’t pick up the smoking habit, but I have days I think about starting lol).
Over the years, EMS has evolved so much that some days it's hard for me to recognize the profession I entered all those years ago. Back then, we practiced using the best knowledge available at the time, much of our trauma protocols built from the military. We did the best we could with the information we had.
And if you're old-school EMS, you probably know exactly where this story is headed...>>>MAST.
Those four little letters could make your heart race faster than any dose of Atropine ever could. Just hearing someone yell, "Get the MAST trousers!" was an instant adrenaline rush.
You'd sprint to the side compartment, grab that hard-plastic case, and hope the last crew had cleaned them. At the same time, you were silently praying the hospital hadn't cut them off the last trauma patient, because if they did...well, you know.
As you applied them to your patient—who probably didn't have much of a blood pressure, you were repeating the steps in your head: (getting these steps out of order would give unwanted results lol)
Then you'd roll into the emergency department feeling like the King or Queen of EMS, convinced you had just performed one of the most advanced trauma interventions known to mankind.
But as I mentioned, medicine is constantly evolving. What we once believed to be the gold standard isn't always what science supports years later. As our knowledge grows, our practices must grow with it. So today, I'd like to say.............Thank you, MAST trousers.
Thank you for the years you spent riding with RCEMS. Thank you for giving us confidence that we were doing everything possible for our trauma patients. And thank you for the lives we believed you helped save—even if today's evidence might tell a slightly different story.
Now I must ask...
If you were around during the MAST trouser era, what are your thoughts on these “contraptions”. 🚑 👀🚑
