EMS 20/20
- Episodes
- 267
- Released
- weekly
- Latest episode
- Nov 11, 2026
About the podcast
EMS 20/20 is podcast hosted by two experienced Paramedics. Spencer Oliver and Christopher Pfingsten discuss real calls run by real responders and pull out the lessons you won't find in a text book. This podcast is aimed at Paramedic students, seasoned Paramedics looking to refresh, or any one interested in a deeper dive into pre-hospital health care.
Episodes 267
Armageddon Outta Here
An asteroid sized twist surprises Chris as Spencer sends a meteor to blow up his expectations. Yes there's trauma! Yes there's scene safety considerations! Yes there's... a maroon shirt? Also, Spencer finally …
Show notes
An asteroid sized twist surprises Chris as Spencer sends a meteor to blow up his expectations. Yes there's trauma! Yes there's scene safety considerations! Yes there's... a maroon shirt? Also, Spencer finally keeps a tangent counter and puts his new Chris Tangent button to the test. Stay until the end to get the final tangent count!
Special Edition: Pooh Goes Plop
In this week's Special Edition, Bryon joins the crew and gets a... slippery patient! Can Bryon bring Eeyore around to see the light as he resists going to the hospital? Listen and find out!
Unraveling Chest Pain
Chris brings an episode to Spencer this time around, and Spencer tries to unravel the mystery of a long buried threat in a patient's chest. In this flight oriented episode, can Spencer end the curse, or is …
Show notes
Chris brings an episode to Spencer this time around, and Spencer tries to unravel the mystery of a long buried threat in a patient's chest. In this flight oriented episode, can Spencer end the curse, or is everyone taken out by a plague?
Special Edition: Mason Stays Cool
Mason joins us in this week's Master Your Medics Special Edition! Mason is given a call with an altered patient... and there more than a few reasons to sift through in this complicated trauma call. How does …
Show notes
Mason joins us in this week's Master Your Medics Special Edition! Mason is given a call with an altered patient... and there more than a few reasons to sift through in this complicated trauma call. How does Mason do? Listen and find out!
PREVIEW: Promise Not To Try
A preview of the LongPauseMedia.com EXCLUSIVE EPISODE: Promise Not to Try
CO Too
How many times can a single crew run CO poisoning calls in one day? Has Mauly returned to exact her revenge on humanity? In a call that boils Chris' blood (like that's hard to do...), a single ambulance crew …
Show notes
How many times can a single crew run CO poisoning calls in one day? Has Mauly returned to exact her revenge on humanity? In a call that boils Chris' blood (like that's hard to do...), a single ambulance crew has a lot to deal with as they find themselves in an ugly predicament.
Special Edition: Fishing for Mack's AMS
Listener Rick joins the guys and goes fishing for an reason his patient won't get out of a taxi... is it because... THE TAXI DRIVER IS LYING SPY?!?! Listen and find out!
Mauly and Me
In today's all BLS episode, a crew runs into a career first (and maybe career worst...) kinda call. Can two EMT's, neither with more than a year of experience and no ALS in sight, pull it off? Have a listen and …
Show notes
In today's all BLS episode, a crew runs into a career first (and maybe career worst...) kinda call. Can two EMT's, neither with more than a year of experience and no ALS in sight, pull it off? Have a listen and find out on this week's episode that goes totally off-leash.
Special Edition: YOU SHALL BE AVENGED
Listener Sam joins the crew in a call that stinks of old EMS 20/20 episodes... does the listener catch on and solve the case? Do the dice do him dirty? Listen and find out!
The Pieces Don't Fit
Spencer brings a case and Chris becomes somewhat skeptical that the juice is worth the squeeze as a crew struggles to get the pieces to fit. A language barrier, an explosion, and equipment that just won't work …
Show notes
Spencer brings a case and Chris becomes somewhat skeptical that the juice is worth the squeeze as a crew struggles to get the pieces to fit. A language barrier, an explosion, and equipment that just won't work compounds a patient with a serious injury. Do they figure it out, or does their screen fill up with mayhem?
Special Edition: POCUS Ranger
On this weeks Master Your Medics Special Edition, we have Danny Kustra! Known for speaking at FAST conferences and running @dnr_prehospital_education, Spencer gives him a harrowingly difficult call... does he …
Show notes
On this weeks Master Your Medics Special Edition, we have Danny Kustra! Known for speaking at FAST conferences and running @dnr_prehospital_education, Spencer gives him a harrowingly difficult call... does he sink or swim? HINT: swimming is easier with sonar...
Legal Lessons for a Full Kart
SPECIAL GUESTS SAMANTHA JOHNSON (a real attorney!) and NICK ADAMS from the Standard of Care Podcast join the guys today as we go over an amazing episode with a diabolical twist... A well run trauma call turns …
Show notes
SPECIAL GUESTS SAMANTHA JOHNSON (a real attorney!) and NICK ADAMS from the Standard of Care Podcast join the guys today as we go over an amazing episode with a diabolical twist... A well run trauma call turns into... another well run trauma call? Chris and Nick go in blind while Samantha and Spencer hang back and blue shell us moments before the finish line. Legal questions asked and answered in today's wild episode!
Unexplained Resuscitation
What happens when you drag a coded patient across the carpet at break neck speed? Can you defib a cigarette? All this and more on this weeks episode as a Canadian crew handles a code down a looooooooong hallway.
Chapters (4)
Special Edition: BOLDY GOING... (...to the ER for lab values)
In a first ever to EMS 20/20, we invite a listener to the show to participate in our Master Your Medics Special Edition! As a voluntary sacrificial Red Shirt, Kate joins the crew and is given a patient! And …
Show notes
In a first ever to EMS 20/20, we invite a listener to the show to participate in our Master Your Medics Special Edition! As a voluntary sacrificial Red Shirt, Kate joins the crew and is given a patient! And then another... or maybe just one? Wait, why are we going to the hospital?
Pregnancy Trouble is Afoot!
HOOLLDD ME NOW, I'M 8cm FROM THE EDGE... Chris and Spence follow the surprise of a lifetime as a crew navigates a pregnancy call where things get... stuck.
Special Edition: Mired Chris Incident
Spencer gives Chris perhaps this last MYM scenario: an MPS/MCI in which Chris must Command! How does he do? Let us know how his performance was as it may perhaps be the last time! Check out our IG for Spencer's …
Show notes
Spencer gives Chris perhaps this last MYM scenario: an MPS/MCI in which Chris must Command! How does he do? Let us know how his performance was as it may perhaps be the last time! Check out our IG for Spencer's hand drawn map!
Prime Time Medicine
In what has to be the most challenging photoshop job Chris has ever done, the guys tackle a call where a near ethereal patient gives no clues to what could be wrong. And gang, we have follow up... and wow. Just wow.
Special Edition: Zoo SNAFU
Spencer is in the hotseat! And this call is really, really wild. Quick, do you think a heard of elephants can clearly mark an LZ?
The Emperor Needs a New Attitude
Today we hear the tale of Paramedic that has the self awareness of a monarch wearing some new fangled, conditionally visible fabric. Does this bode well for the patient and their partner? Listen and find out!
Special Edition: Bringing Back the Bagel
Chris is in the hotseat as Spencer gives him a call with strong ties to a past episode. Does Chris figure it out in time? Or does he KILL HIS CREW?!?!?!
Kemento
Chris discovers a sound board as Spencer goes through the call... backwards? Start at the end and end at the beginning for the wild ride, complete with dramatic movie quotes.
Special Edition | CSI: Truck Stop
Spencer is in the hot seat and performs quite well! He has the world's most annoying intern, but thankfully a helpful partner and PD as well. How does he do? Listen and find out!
My Heart Will (Not) Go On
Friend of the Show QANTU joins us for a Titanic Sized episode! Will the efforts to pace a patient be the life boat that's needed? Or will this patient be kicked off the floating door and die an icy death?
Lives Out: An EMS 20/20 Mystery
Dr. Will Heuser join the crew in a an altered LOC mystery! Intubation, a mystery of a history, and a blood pressure that is not cooperating with authorities. Will and the guys will also be at FAST26, get your …
Show notes
Dr. Will Heuser join the crew in a an altered LOC mystery! Intubation, a mystery of a history, and a blood pressure that is not cooperating with authorities. Will and the guys will also be at FAST26, get your tickets now! fbefast.com
Do Not Pass ER
Special Guest GEOFF MURPHY of Master Your Medics fame joins the guys for a trip around the game board as a Canadian crew navigate the harsh realities of the unknown reasons someone could be altered... with a …
Show notes
Special Guest GEOFF MURPHY of Master Your Medics fame joins the guys for a trip around the game board as a Canadian crew navigate the harsh realities of the unknown reasons someone could be altered... with a STEMI. Maybe.
This Call is Baulder's Dash
Chris finds the effects button on the mixer as Spencer relays a call that shows everything that can go wrong when systemic, cultural apathy sets in deep in a system.
Special Edition: Stroke of (un)Luck
Chris has his worst luck yet, as he finds an altered patient, and angry wife, and absolutely no help. How does he do? Vote on our IG! @ems2020show!
Gravitating Towards Anaphylaxis?
A rapidly swelling tongue and plummeting saturations point a crew into EXACTLY the... wrong? Direction? Can you figure it out before the guys do? Let us know!
SUPER Special Edition: Split the Party!
TODAY IS AWESOME! For the first time ever, neither of us are in the hotseat! Instead, the crew from The RideAlong EMT School Podcast join us in an epic collab event! How does a pair of newly minted EMT's and an …
Show notes
TODAY IS AWESOME! For the first time ever, neither of us are in the hotseat! Instead, the crew from The RideAlong EMT School Podcast join us in an epic collab event! How does a pair of newly minted EMT's and an experienced Paramedic do against the madness that besets them? And no, we don't go easy on them...
Shake N Bake Boys, I Think We Got a BBQ
The guys welcome Special Guest Dr. Mike Lauria to the show! A crew attends a patient that is perfectly alive, but does NOT stay that way! Can this crew get in sync with what the patient needs, or do they head …
Show notes
The guys welcome Special Guest Dr. Mike Lauria to the show! A crew attends a patient that is perfectly alive, but does NOT stay that way! Can this crew get in sync with what the patient needs, or do they head down a spiral of doom? And can Spencer and Lauria STOP adding movie references?
These are the latest 40 of 267 episodes. You’ll find older episodes in the podcast’s feed.
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