Mithriel Salmon

Paramedic: Calculations for Medication Administration was inspired by a group of firefighter/EMTs that worked hard for their paramedic patch. The text is structured to take a step back and rediscover the basics of math at your own pace, in your own environment. Although this was driven by emergency responders who were not confident in their math skills, but needed to be strong at medication calculations, the format and practice problems have already helped many people who have been struggling. Math is like a game. You need to know the rules and then you can develop your own strategy to solving problems. This text teaches the math rules, giving you the confidence to apply them as you need them everyday. Calculate medication for your patients, estimate the number of yards you need to cover your garden, or figure out how many cans of pain you need to cover the walls in your house with two coats.. the same math rules apply. Give it a try and see that you can do this! I am a research field scientist, clinical laboratory scientist, paramedic, and an educator for many people in different paths. It is always a painful process to watch people struggle with math because they are terrified. One particular group of firefighters had jobs at stake and worked as hard as I have ever seen a class work to finish their paramedic requirements. Math was tough for the group who would have preferred to be on the truck instead of the box. We dug in together and steadily made progress by back tracking through the basics and adding the skills to solve the more demanding math calculations. That is where this text began. Stephen Rahm (a very respected paramedic and J&B author..and wonderful person) encouraged me to write the math book in its entirety after I asked him if he thought the dvd I created for the firefighters would be a useful addition to one of his books. With Stephen's suggestion, and introduction to the folks at J&B, I dug in as hard as my firefighter class to create a text that would take the fear out of math for as many paramedics and other medical professionals as the text could reach. Towards the end of the book my sister died suddenly and unexpectedly, putting the last chapter and a few loose ends of the text on hold. J&B asked me if this was a time they could help by bringing in another author and finish up the last sections of the project. David Pomerantz agreed to finish the last chapter of the book. I am grateful J&B brought David in to help bring this project to completion in the midst of our family crisis and made it possible to bring this text to the people who needed support through the math in their programs. We both have a common goal; to make math skills for paramedics less terrifying and help support paramedics provide the best pre-hospital care to their patients. Since this book has been published I have moved in a different direction. I have a master's degree in Marine Resources Management and a PhD in Marine Biology. I continue to teach redirecting my focus towards research and education for people around the globe with an interest in marine and coastal ecology. I spend my time writing publications based on my research, developing curriculum, and studying marine fauna (especially whales, dolphins, and manatee) in their natural environment. I still thrive on seeing students get excited as they learn and recharge when I can help make difficult concepts easy to digest and understand. I have been told many times that I am "wired to teach". I get recharged when I see people accomplish skills that they thought were out of reach. Please, feel free to provide feedback, comments, or ask questions regarding this book or other topics of common interest mentioned here. If you meet firefighters who say they were the inspiration for this text, be sure to tell them that they planted the seed and I am so grateful they did! You can find me on LinkedIn, or a search on the internet will being up my information quickly. I'd love to hear from you! In the end, "Everything is hard until it isn't" (my favorite mantra). Keep at it. You learned many things in your life that you once thought were confusing and daunting. You got this! ~May 2018 Mithriel (Salmon) MacKay, Mithriel@Marine-Eco.org www.Marine-Eco.org www.Education.Marine-Eco.org Director of Research and Education The Marine and Coastal Ecology Research Center Florida, USa