Keith Conover, M.D., FACEP
Professional/Personal Web Site

Looking for my FTP site to download a file I posted for you? It's at www.conovers.org/ftp

Looking for my textbook, Appalachian Search and Rescue? It's at www.conovers.org/ftp/AppSAR

One of the four founders of the Appalachian Search and Rescue Conference, Keith Conover is writing a textbook called Appalachian Search and Rescue (AppSAR). AppSAR supports the ASRC's Training Standards and Training Guide as a reference. AppSAR documents the "ASRC way" for many techniques, such as the ASRC Seat Harness, the ASRC's way of rotating litter bearers ,and rotating a 3-person rope team to make multi-pitch semi-tech evacs (low angle rope rescue) more effective. 

Free online chapters are posted at http://www.conovers.org/ftp/AppSAR as they are completed, including .high-resolution PDFs for printing. The following are currently available: 

• Cover 
• Preface 
• Introduction 
• Chapter 4: Leadership and Followership 
• Chapter 8: Nontechnical and Semi-Tech Evacs

Electricity makes angels of us all -- not in the Sunday school sense of being good or having wings, but spirit freed from the flesh, capable of instant transportation anywhere.
--Edmund Carpenter

Last revised: August 5, 2020. List below of the changes; most recent is at the top with a listing for my new Appalachian Search and Rescue textbook. You might take a look at m blog ed-informatics.org. It's about emergency department informatics, but the topics are broad enough to be of interest to anyone working in an ED, and anyone interested in medical informatics or the usability of computer systems in general.

Contents:

	September 11, 2001:  A dream, and some thoughts of a political and religious nature. Do not attach yourself to any particular creed exclusively, so that you may disbelieve all the rest; otherwise you will lose much good, nay you will fail to recognize the real truth of the matter. God, the omnipresent and omnipotent, is not limited by any one creed, for he says, "Wheresoever ye turn, there is the face of Allah" (Koran 2:109). Everyone praises what he believes; his god is his own creature, and in praising it he praises himself. Consequently he blames the beliefs of others, which he would not do if he were just, but his dislike is based on ignorance."--Muid ad-Din ibn al-Arabi (twelfth-century Iberian-born Islamic philosopher and theologian related to the Sufi school)
	I am on the planning commission for the borough of Carnegie, where I live. For the commission, I put together a brief essay on Traffic Calming.
	The Law: a simple-minded, extremely basic tutorial for those who have forgotten what they learned in high school.
	Keith's Picks and Pans Now, more Teaching Company Podcast reviews.
	ED Informatics Page A PDF of my presentation User Interaction Design and ED Workflow: A Worst-Case Scenario for Developers
	Personal Computer Information    Here you will find very old information about using personal computers, including the (previously) world-famous "Keith and Betty's Idiosyncratic Recommendations for Personal Computers and Software." Also an article on remapping the Control, Alt, CapsLock and other keys on your keyboard.
	Emergency Medicine Page Emergency Medical Treatment And Labor Act (EMTALA): a comprehensive reference for physicians. If you're looking for my RSI (Rapid Sequence Intubation) or ACLS pocket cards, or my treatise on ABGs, you can find them on the Pittsburgh Mercy Health System Emergency Departments' web site.
	EMS and Wilderness EMS Page Including a Hypothermia Basics handout
	Search and Rescue and Outdoor Page My complete SAR/Disaster equipment list Hiking the Appalachian Trail, Northern Virginia, Blackburn Trail Center
	Powerpoint Presentation: Educational Objectives.
	Personal Wilderness Medical Kit listing - make your own The latest version of the Wilderness EMS Institute's Personal Wilderness Medical Kit document -- with lots of notes helpful for making up your own backcountry medical kit. If you are interested in making up your own kit, you might be interested in my  Daypack/Cavepack Medical Kit list (also available on Word format) and my  Everyday Emergency Kit list (also available in Word format) Notes: as of the 2.8 update added a binky, two toys, and Kleenex; can you tell that we had a small child? And if you don't think a lost binky is an emergency, you've probably never had kids. And, removed droperidol, as IM midazolam seems better in many ways (10 mg for the average adult, need the concentrated 5 mg/cc for this); changed the albuterol Rotohaler to a standard inhaler (can't get Rotohalers any more) and added some reflective armbands (you can get them from rei.com) for night walks along roads.
	Trip to Wales: Wilderness EMS and travel A working holiday in Wales: the first WEMSI courses in the U.K.  Each of the past seven years, some of us from the U.S. have gone to the British Isles for a week to help the Irish and British get started with WEMSI-style Wilderness EMT and Wilderness Command Physician courses.  The sponsoring organizations have covered our airfare and food and lodging, but we haven't been paid for this -- it's a volunteer effort.  Others who have helped in this include WEMSI staff and instructors Jack and Emily Grandey, Don Scelza, Dr. Sam Chewning, and Owen Gormley.
	Trip to Ireland Page: Wilderness EMS and Hillwalking
	Allegheny Mountain Rescue Group
	DKL Lifeguard Devices The definitive word -- the Department of Justice's report -- after dissecting one, a government lab found the LifeGuard devices's "dielectrokinetic" detector circuits are nonfunctional.
	Keith's Predictions Page.
	Consciousness Page For those interested in the neurobiology of consciousness.
	Links Page With my Netscape bookmark.htm file with a massive number of good links.
	Personal Page  Now with baby and sister's wedding pictures. Also a page on Style in the best sense of the word.
	Curriculum Vitae Page

No longer under construction, but clicking on this will get you to the Construction Notes page, including how I migrated the copy of this Web on my personal computer from a pseudo-URL to just a plain folder with FrontPage 97.

List of changes:

• 5/8/20: added links at the top to my new search and rescue textbook, Appalachian Search and Rescue. 
• 3/10/13: I have been updating the Clothing Materials Table on a regular basis (won't post further notices about updates here) and added a new gallery of photos from when Betty, Laurel and I spent a week in October 2007 hiking the Appalachian Trail in Northern Virginia while staying at the Blackburn Trail Center.
• 8/22/11: Updated the Clothing Materials Table for the first time in a couple of years.
• 6/11/10 Added Pittsburgh South Hills Suburbs Orienteering Maps
• 9/3/07: Added Dr. Strong Lecture Notes
• 6/29/05: Added ATLS Spine Lecture Notes.
• 5/18/05: Added my presentation on User Interaction Design from the Medical Records Institute's TEPR 2005 Conference.
• 4/10/05: Added a new draft of the Task Assignment Form
• 2/21/05: Added an essay on Traffic Calming, and a new SAR Gear list with pretty much everything I carry in my truck for SAR and disaster operations. Of interest mostly to those who, like me, are SAR people who aspire to be OCD (obsessive-compulsive) but never quite make it.
• 1/13/05: Added some more Emergency Medicine Core Content notes and more Teaching Company reviews.
• August 18, 2004: Emergency Review of Street Atlas 2005: will not handle multiple routes or multiple draw files.
• August 9, 2004: updated TAF on website
• March 31, 2004: added a tent stake comparison to the Picks and Pans page.
• March 23, 2004: Added an article on the new MiOx water purification device.
• February 2, 2004: Added Hypothermia Basics handout
• Revised Everyday Emergency Kit
• June 10, 2003: new comprehensive reference on EMTALA posted
• February 26. 2003: Q and A on "paramedics in the Hospital" for Pennsylvania
• February 10, 2003: Emergency Physician patches available again, and added a tiny legal tutorial.
• February 5, 2003: even more new lightbulbs available now from Philips!
• January 17, 2003: updated page on remapping of keys via redefining them in the registry.
• January 6, 2003: added brief outline for teaching basic wilderness first aid.
• December 22, 2002: brief review of Franklin-Covey PlanPlus for Outlook.
• December 21, 2002: slight revision of Everyday Emergency Kit
• November 6, 2002: great new lightbulbs available now from Philips!
• November 21, 2002: minor update of "Keith and Betty's Recommendations"
• November 8, 2002: first update of "Keith and Betty's Recommendations" in a year! And some other minor updates, including the CV.
• October 27, 2002: minor update to Clothing Materials document.
• October 17, 2002: few miscellaneous updates, added Emergency Medicine Core Content lecture notes
• August 6, 2002: reformatted the home page using tables to make things a bit neater, fixed the ED informatics icon that was hiding for some reason, and made an addition to the section on keyboard remapping.
• July 31, 2002: added an article on EMTALA, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act.
• July 16, 2002: review of Delorme Topo USA 4.0
• July 10, 2002: updated the discussion of Emergency Portable Lighting for Hospital Disasters.
• July 7, 2002: updated the Clothing Materials table, moved the Pennsylvania SAR Council Minutes Archive to a new page.
• July 2, 2002: updated and expanded the discussion of halogen light bulbs on the picks and pans page.
• June 24, 2002:  added a draft document on Emergency Portable Lighting for Hospital Disasters and revised the article on switching CapsLock, Control, and Alt under Windows 2000 and XP.
• May 23, 2002:  added a draft document on hospital ambulance diversion policies.
• May 5, 2002: added a bit to the instructions on syncing desktop, laptop and palm, and added some stuff on Teaching Company tapes and halogen lightbulbs to Keith's Picks and Pans.
• Marcy 18, 2002.  Added an old essay on why hospitals should use the ICS.
• February 20, 2002:  added information on how to remap CapLock, Control, and Alt keys under Windows XP.
• February 14, 2002:  old Pennsylvania SAR Council Minutes up and available.
• February 9, 2002: some new pictures of our architecturally-interesting house.
• December 22, 2001: new information on using Franklin Planner for Outlook, including the right way to use it as a reasonable Task list, and how to sync your Palm-OS handheld between two PCs both using synced versions of Franklin Planner for Outlook.
• November 29, 2001: new version of "Keith and Betty's Recommendations" for computer stuff.
• November 12 2001: Just added a couple of links to various medical kit lists to this page.
• October 16, 2001:  posted review of Street Atlas Deluxe
• September 14, 2001:  posted letter about the NY and DC plane-bombings.
• August 6, 2001:  more pictures of the new house, and a new scanned and OCR'ed version of the ICS I-100 Orientation to the Incident Command System (ICS)
• May 29, 2001: started new page on "Keith's Picks and Pans"
• May 27, 2001:  updated Clothing Information Table again with the new name for Malden Mill's Thermal Stretch fabric:  Aqua Shell (sometimes known as Aquashell).
• April 12, 2001: added section on Wilderness EMS history, with several important historical documents.
• January, 2001: added one picture of new house to the Personal Page.
• January, 2001: new page with Emergency Department Informatics information
• December, 2000: New version (11.0) of Keith and Betty's Recommendations:  first update in over a year.
• Updated the Clothing Materials table again (still), added some information to the Style page on Eric Pirie's Polychrome Tartan Kilt, and a bit more information there on the Little Holland House.
• November 16, 2000:  updated Clothing Materials table, added Patient Handout on Poison Ivy.
• September 27, 2000:  added lots of new baby/hiking pictures, and a Powerpoint presentation on educational objectives.
• August 26, 2000: updated the Clothing Materials comparison for the $&%th time. Fixed some of the more egregious errors.
• August 12, 2000:  added a new Clothing Material Comparison to the SAR/Outdoor pages.
• May 21:  new pictures and a slight revision of the Charcoal Vest article, also now in PDF format.
• April 8, 2000:  minor revision of Everyday Emergency Kit and some new baby pictures
• March 31, 2000:  added an updated version of the EMS DNR/Ceasing Resuscitation document.
• March 25, 2000:  added some information on how to sync desktop and laptop, particularly for Pegasus email using LapLink 2000.
• December 3, 1999: added WEMSI Personal Wilderness Medical Kit document
• December 2, 1999: minor edits to the Wales pages, and minor revision of the Everyday Emergency Kit (H2 blocker instead of antacids).
• December 1, 1999:  added page about November, 1999's first U.K. WEMSI Wilderness EMT and Wilderness Command Physician courses.  
• November 20, 1999:  new version of Keith and Betty's Idiosyncratic Recommendations for PCs and Software.
• October 11, 1999: new version of ASRC Bylaws.
• October 6, 1999: Laurel is three months old.  New baby pictures.
• October 2, 1999: minor revision of Everyday Emergency Kit to add some winter things. 
• August 25: more baby pictures and some minor edits.
• August 18, 1999: Added "Mini-OpsKit" list to Outdoor/SAR page. 
• August 6, 1999:  Everyday Emergency Kit revision, removed one IV catheter and Compazine (Droperidol works for sedation, migraine, nausea), added string for ring removal.
• July 31, 1999: more baby pictures and a new draft of the new Pennsylvania SAR Council Task Assignment Form.
• July 7, 1999: added pictures of the new Laurel Conover and from my sister's wedding.
• June 30, 1999:  Emergency Physician patches no longer available, new Everyday Emergency Kit, minor edits.
• June 11, 1999: minor edits, new version of Everyday Emergency Kit.
• June 5, 1999: updated CV, moved some PSARC files to www.psarc.org.
• June 4, 1999:  updated the Allegheny Mountain Rescue Group pages, added to the Emergency Medicine page images of Emergency Physician patches, and a list for my Everyday Emergency Kit.
• February 26, 1999: added an updated Charting Report Card document to the Emergency Medicine page.
• February 20, 1999: minor edits and considerable restructuring of the DKL page. (The last in a long time, I hope!  Now maybe I can clean up the other parts of the pages and post some new hiking pictures or something.).
• February 18,1999: added a link to the Department of Justice's definitive study of the DKL LifeGuard.
• January 16, 1999: added my reply to the threatening letter from DKL's lawyer.
• January 14, 1999: added three reference cards to the Emergency Medicine pages
• October 16, 1998: minor edits to the DKL page.
• October 3, 1998: Added a few links to the DKL page.
• August 26, 1998: Over the past couple of days, added a lot, and did some cleaning up, to the DKL LifeGuard page.
• August 24, 1998: Added a letter from DKL's lawyers to the DKL LifeGuard page.
• August 23, 1998: Added some information to the DKL LifeGuard page.
• August 1, 1998: added the Predictions page.
• July 29. 1998:  updated version of "Keith and Betty's Recommendations" and a link to the official Sandia Labs report about the DKL LifeGuard devices.
• July 5, 1998: added a tiny bit to the Consciousness page.
• June 1998: added the "Standard Guide: Desisting from and Ceasing Prehospital Resuscitation" draft
• May 1998: added some information to the top of this page about the DKL LifeGuard.
• April 1998: added
  • emails and letters to the FBI about the DKL LifeGuard matter.
  • to the SAR/Outdoor page:
    • "The Art of Search"
    • a link to John Carnes' wonderful "1:24,000 Map Tools"
  • to the EMS/Wilderness EMS page:  an article on the Heatpac "Charcoal Vest" or "Charcoal Sarong," the best hypothermia rewarming device I've found.
  • many updates to the AMRG page.
  • January 1998: added
  • the Allegheny Mountain Rescue Group temporary home page
  • a 1 Km ASRC Grid Template
  • an updated version (8.3) of "Keith and Betty's Recommendations,"
  • an updated version of my complete set of bookmarks, carefully checked and updated
  • an updated CV.
  • the Win95 "Shortcut" utility that I've found so useful
  • the "Profusion" metasearch engine
  • the Windows 95 version of the QFILER file manager
• December 4, 1997: added two pages of "the most important computer abbreviations" in MS Word and Adobe Acrobat .pdf formats. I did this for the American College of Emergency Physicians' Emergency Department Informatics Symposium -- it's mostly useful for giving to those who are interested in learning about computers (sort of a cyberspace phrase book). 
• November 24, 1997: added "Latitude and Longitude Measuring Stick" to SAR/Outdoor page.
• November 19, 1997: posted updated version (8.1) of Keith and Betty's Personal Computer Recommendations; first update since July.
• September 2, 1997: added a memo and diagram about night shifts and circadian rhythms to the Emergency Medicine page.
• July, 1997: Major revision of "Keith and Betty's Idiosyncratic Recommendations for Personal Computers and Software" posted, also new CV and new Bookmarks file.
• May 23, 1997: added description of the ASRC uniform
• April 27. 1997: Added the "Pack it in, pack it out" sign to the Outdoor/SAR page.
• April 22, 1997: added PDF files of the Appalachian Search and Rescue Conference Bylaws and Training Standards, PSARC and NCRC Due Process Disciplinary Policies, and the ASRC Pennsylvania Medical Policy.
• April 14, 1997: added the long-promised Adobe Acrobat files for the PA SAR Council Forms packet and the Appalachian Search and Rescue Conference Grid System monograph.
• April 10, 1997: had to scan some slides for an article on desert emergencies in Emergency magazine (I didn't write it, just unofficially reviewed it and provided a picture) so I added them to the Outdoor page: Great Sand Dunes National Monument, CO.
• May 9, 2105: NASA has developed a true LifeGuard that is saving lives in Nepal.

Contact Information

Electronic mail address; please send comments to me at this address, thanks.
k c o n o v e r @
p i t t . e d u

(note that spammers scan websites for email addresses, which is the reason for the above format rather than a mailto link)

Web address (hint: you're here already)
http://www.pitt.edu/~kconover

Office phone
412-232-8382 (Mercy Department of Emergency Medicine)

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