Kirsten (Kirt) Elling is a career paramedic who works for the Town of Colonie in upstate New York. She began EMS work in 1988 as an EMT/firefighter and has been a National Registered paramedic since 1991. She has been an EMS educator since 1990, teaching basic and advanced EMS programs at the Institute of Prehospital Emergency Medicine in Troy, New York. Kirt serves as Regional Faculty for the NYS DOH, Bureau of EMS and the American Heart Association. She has written numerous scripts for the EMS training video series PULSE: Emergency Medical Update. She is also the author and co-author of several books including The EMT-Basic Exam Review & The Emergency Medical Responder Exam Review, Why-Driven EMS Review, and The Paramedic Exam Review. Kirt was also a contributing author of the IPEM Paramedic Lab Manual, and an adjunct writer for the 1998 revision of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, EMT-Paramedic and EMT-Intermediate: National Standard Curricula and the 2007 Paramedic Practice Guidelines.