When Leaugeay Barnes, EdD, NRP, FP-C, NCEE became a paramedic instructor in 2001, she had field experience, a bachelor's degree, and no training as an educator. So she taught the way she'd been taught: long lectures that led to sleeping students. Now program director of Hawaii's only paramedic program, Leaugeay joins Hilary Gates, Rob Lawrence, and Maia Dorsett, MD, PhD to revisit those early years and what it took to improve. The conversation covers her shift to teaching "how I wish I'd been taught," why every student gets a whiteboard, treating failure as a required part of learning, and removing the shame from needing a second try. The hosts also take on the "sink or swim" culture that greets new EMS educators, and how team teaching, mentorship, and succession planning can give them a better start. The episode closes with a tribute to the late Ray Fowler, MD, FAEMS, FACEP.

Ginger Locke highlights the episode's key points with her "Mindset Minute."

Mentioned in the episode:

Ray Fowler tribute: https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/douglasville-ga/raymond-fowler-13080257
EMS Educator Episode with Ray Fowler: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/an-eagle-original-ray-fowler-on-ems-education/id1573326528?i=1000533708160

Fatigue research by P. Daniel Patterson: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3228875/

NAEMT Lighthouse program: https://www.naemt.org/initiatives/lighthouse-leadership-program

Zone of desirable difficulty: Bjork, E. L., & Bjork, R. A. (2011). “Making things hard on yourself, but in a good way: Creating desirable difficulties to enhance learning.”

Socratic Method: Pylman S, Ward A. “12 tips for effective questioning in medical education.” Med Teach. 2020;42(12):1330–1336. doi: 10.1080/0142159X.2020.1749583

Alex Honnold on failure: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C4-7rIwMzaJ/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&srtk=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

The EMS Educator is published on the first Friday of every month! Be sure to turn on your notifications so you can listen as soon as the episode drops, and like/follow us on your favorite platform.

Get your CE at www.prodigyems.com

Follow @ProdigyEMS on FB, YouTube, TikTok & IG.

Recorded live from EMS World Expo 2026 in Orlando, this episode asks a simple question: where do you find joy in a job that isn’t always joyful? Rob Lawrence, Hilary Gates and Maia Dorsett sit down with Chris Kroboth of Lifeline EMS Training and Consulting. Chris is a fire captain and longtime educator who advocates leading people rather than leaning on rank. Chris argues that leadership is an ability, not a title, and shares how he builds ownership in his crews, from letting them run the assessments and debriefing as a team to a station “word of the day” and sitting down with your team to talk about life. Maia also segues into Kim Scott’s Radical Candor and its unforgettable toilet-paper-on-the-shoe example, exploring the ways to provide feedback that shows you genuinely care.

Listen, then ask yourself: what brings you joy in this work?

Plus, congratulations to Prodigy's own Ginger Locke, EMS Educator of the Year.

Mentioned in the episode:

https://www.radicalcandor.com/

Ginger Locke highlights the episode's key points with her "Mindset Minute."

The EMS Educator is published on the first Friday of every month! Be sure to turn on your notifications so you can listen as soon as the episode drops, and like/follow us on your favorite platform.

Get your CE at www.prodigyems.com

Follow @ProdigyEMS on FB, YouTube, TikTok & IG.

What if distance was always a clinical variable, right alongside heart rate and blood pressure? On this episode of The EMS Educator Podcast, host Hilary Gates and co-host Rob Lawrence sit down with two seasoned leaders in austere and frontier EMS: Tracey Loscar, deputy director of the Mat-Su Borough Department of Emergency Services in Alaska, and TJ Bishop, interim chief administrator for San Juan Island EMS in Washington State. Tracey and TJ dig into why rural systems demand a different training model, one built on closing feedback loops, teaching situational awareness and clinical gestalt, and distinguishing competency from fluency. They describe how they've redesigned field training, onboarding, and scenario-based education around each system's highest-risk, lowest-frequency calls, and why mentorship and cross-agency learning are essential for developing confident, independent-thinking clinicians in resource-limited settings.

Ginger Locke highlights the episode's key points with her "Mindset Minute."

Mentioned in the episode:

"Same Stakes, Fewer Reps: Decision-Making in Low-Volume EMS"

https://www.hmpgloballearningnetwork.com/site/emsworld/feature/same-stakes-fewer-reps-decision-making-low-volume-ems

"EMS in the Ash Zone" https://www.ems1.com/disaster-management/ems-in-the-ash-zone-alaskas-mount-spurr-and-the-volcanic-challenge

The EMS Educator is published on the first Friday of every month! Be sure to turn on your notifications so you can listen as soon as the episode drops, and like/follow us on your favorite platform.

Get your CE at www.prodigyems.com Follow @ProdigyEMS on FB, YouTube, TikTok & IG.

The clinical elements of an EMS program are vast and complicated but essential. What can a clinical coordinator do to help students succeed? Hosts Maia Dorsett and Hilary Gates sit down with Michael Miller, EdD, RN, NRP, Associate Director, Committee on Accreditation of Educational Programs for the EMS Professions (CoAEMSP) and Tim "Hutch" Hutchings, EMT-P, Clinical Coordinator, Monroe Community College Paramedic Program, to unpack the sometimes invisible role of the clinical coordinator. Mike presents the CoAEMSP accreditation standards and the four core clinical coordinator responsibilities, while Hutch shares hard-won, real-world strategies for building trust with students and preceptors alike. Together they explore what separates good clinical coordination from great, why relationships matter more than spreadsheets, common barriers faced by EMS programs, and creative solutions for ensuring quality clinical placements. A must-listen for program directors, educators, and anyone coordinating clinical experiences in EMS education.

Ginger Locke highlights the episode's key points with her "Mindset Minute."

Mentioned in the episode:

CoAEMSP INTERPRETATIONS OF THE CAAHEP 2023 STANDARDS AND GUIDELINES

https://coaemsp.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Interpretations-of-the-2023-CAAHEP-Standards.pdf

The EMS Educator is published on the first Friday of every month! Be sure to turn on your notifications so you can listen as soon as the episode drops, and like/follow us on your favorite platform.

Check out the Prodigy EMS Bounty Program! Earn $1000 for your best talks!

Get your CE at www.prodigyems.com. Follow @ProdigyEMS on FB, YouTube, TikTok & IG.

Remediation is a word that can strike fear into the hearts of learners and educators alike — but does it have to? Hear from Drs. Ryan Batenhorst and Heather Davis, two veteran EMS educators, as they unpack what remediation really means and how programs can approach it with more compassion and less stigma. Hosts Hilary Gates and Ginger Locke dive into Ryan's research on paramedic students' post-traumatic stress symptoms and how it reshaped his understanding of clinical rotation stress. Heather asks us to consider the striking etymology of the word "remediation," reframing the concept as taking appropriate measure rather than assigning blame. Together they explore how to tell the difference between a learner issue, a preceptor issue, and an environmental issue — and why proactive, preventative support leads to better outcomes. A must-listen for anyone who wants their program's rigor to build learners up, not tear them down.

Rob Lawrence provides the "Rob Recap."

Mentioned in the episode:

"What Happened to You?" https://bookshop.org/p/books/what-happened-to-you-conversations-on-trauma-resilience-and-healing-bruce-d-perry/13381a9ac2577776?ean=9781250223180&source=aw&sv1=affiliate&sv_campaign_id=1264447&utm_source=awin&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=1264447&utm_term=0&sscid=92005_1783098987_ddf9c57510e5df2ddb9fa6a17f833906&awc=92005_1783098987_ddf9c57510e5df2ddb9fa6a17f833906

Ryan Batenhorst Publications:

https://www.creighton.edu/campus-directory/ryan-batenhorst

The EMS Educator is published on the first Friday of every month! Be sure to turn on your notifications so you can listen as soon as the episode drops, and like/follow us on your favorite platform.

Check out the Prodigy EMS Bounty Program! Earn $1000 for your best talks! https://www.prodigyems.com/bounty-program

Get your CE at www.prodigyems.com. Follow @ProdigyEMS on FB, YouTube, TikTok & IG.

What is required from both instructors and students to teach and learn clinical judgment? Our EMS profession is a place where right answers are not always cut and dry and grace might be the most important skill in the room. In this episode, guest Jeff Anderson, Paramedic Program Director at Bossier Parish Community College joins hosts Maia Dorsett, Hilary Gates and Ginger Locke for an honest, humbling conversation about what it really takes to teach clinical judgment. They dig into the gap between what students hear in the classroom and what they absorb in the field, why preceptors and educators can be in tension and how educators can struggle with ego and reactivity. They share real stories from their programs, talk through how they handle their own emotional reactions, and offer practical advice for educators trying to make peace with a profession that doesn't fit neatly into a protocol. Whether you're a program director, a preceptor, or someone still figuring out how to teach the grey, this one's for you.

Rob Lawrence provides the "Rob Recap."

Mentioned in the episode:

Daniel Kahneman, "Thinking Fast and Slow": https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/0374533555

Pat Croskerry, Clinical Decision Making: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1303712

The EMS Educator is published on the first Friday of every month! Be sure to turn on your notifications so you can listen as soon as the episode drops, and like/follow us on your favorite platform.

Check out the Prodigy EMS Bounty Program! Earn $1000 for your best talks! https://www.prodigyems.com/bounty-program

Get your CE at www.prodigyems.com. Follow @ProdigyEMS on FB, YouTube, TikTok & IG.

What if the traits that make someone great at EMS are the same ones that make traditional classrooms feel challenging? In this episode, hosts Rob Lawrence, Hilary Gates, and Maia Dorsett sit down with Nicole Hansen, EdD, EMT-P, Long Island EMS Division Manager for NYU Langone to explore two of her recent publications. Nicole shares findings from her dissertation on mental preparedness in EMS, including why current curricula fall short and how the "wounded healer" theory might shape who enters EMS. The conversation then shifts to her latest research on ADHD prevalence among EMS clinicians. They discuss how neurodiverse learners are often misread as underperformers, the link between ADHD and PTSD risk, and — crucially — what EMS educators can do right now to redesign their classrooms to support every kind of brain.

Ginger Locke highlights the episode's key points with her "Mindset Minute."

Mentioned in the episode:

Self-Reported ADHD in a Convenience Sample of EMS Clinicians: https://internationaljournalofparamedicine.com/index.php/ijop/article/view/3601/3399

Perceptions of Mental Preparedness in EMS Students: https://scholarworks.ace.edu/items/88b8a3d3-f12e-466f-b048-d9d62bb7a5e2

How Learning Works: https://www.amazon.com/How-Learning-Works-Research-Based-Principles/dp/1119861691

Prehospital Care Research Forum (PCRF): https://www.cpc.mednet.ucla.edu/pcrf

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/

The EMS Educator is published on the first Friday of every month! Be sure to turn on your notifications so you can listen as soon as the episode drops, and like/follow us on your favorite platform.

Check out the Prodigy EMS Bounty Program! Earn $1000 for your best talks!

Get your CE at www.prodigyems.com. Follow @ProdigyEMS on FB, YouTube, TikTok & IG.

The pandemic ushered in a plethora of pivots in EMS education. How did educators Tom Bouthillet, Paul Pepe and Peter Antevy put together 30 hours of free online education? What does the future of EMS education hold? Is it mostly online? Should we go back to in-person courses? Join hosts Hilary Gates and Rob Lawrence as they discuss with Tom and Peter EMS education models, quality control, culture hurdles and British tacos.

This podcast is sponsored by EMS Gives Life. Would you consider becoming a living organ donor? Visit emsgiveslife.org for more info.

Find the Refresh content and more at www.prodigyems.com. Follow @ProdigyEMS on Twitter, FB, YouTube & IG.