Certified First Responder in France

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See also : Certified First Responder and Emergency medical responder

Emergency medical responders are people who are specially trained to provide out-of-hospital care in medical emergencies. There are many different types of emergency medical responders, each with different levels of training, ranging from first aid and basic life support. Emergency medical responders have a very limited scope of practice and have the least amount of comprehensive education, clinical experience or clinical skills of emergency medical services (EMS) personnel. The EMR program is not intended to replace the roles of emergency medical technicians or paramedics and their wide range of specialties. Emergency medical responders typically assist in rural regions providing basic life support where pre-hospital health professionals are not available due to limited resources or infrastructure.


In France, the pre-hospital care is either performed by first responders from the fire department (sapeurs-pompiers, most emergency situations) or from a private ambulance company (relative emergency at home), or by a medical team that includes a physician, a nurse and an ambulance technician (called "smur"). The intermediate scale, the firefighter nurse (infirmier sapeur-pompier, ISP), is only a recent evolution and is performed by nurses specially trained acting with emergency protocols; these nurses are the French equivalent of the paramedics. The first responders are thus the most frequent answer to emergency calls.

France Republic with mainland in Europe and numerous oversea territories

France, officially the French Republic, is a country whose territory consists of metropolitan France in Western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The metropolitan area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. It is bordered by Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany to the northeast, Switzerland and Italy to the east, and Andorra and Spain to the south. The overseas territories include French Guiana in South America and several islands in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. The country's 18 integral regions span a combined area of 643,801 square kilometres (248,573 sq mi) and a total population of 67.3 million. France, a sovereign state, is a unitary semi-presidential republic with its capital in Paris, the country's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Other major urban areas include Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Lille and Nice.

Fire department organisation with trained personnel for dealing with fires and other incidents and for co-operating in their prevention

A fire department or fire brigade, also known as a fire protection district, fire authority or fire and rescue service is an organization that primarily provides firefighting services for a specific geographic area. Fire departments are most commonly a public organization who operate within a municipality, county, state, nation, or special district. Private and specialist firefighting organizations also exist, such as those at airports.

Ambulance vehicle equipped for transporting and care for ill and wounded people

An ambulance is a vehicle which can transport medical patients to treatment, and in some instances will also provide out-of-hospital medical care to the patient.

First aid associations (about 15 nationwide associations, including the French Red Cross, St John ambulance, order of Malta and the volunteers of the French Civil Protection) also train their volunteers as first responders; the top diploma (PSE 2) is exactly the same as the firefighters. They usually act in preventive first aid post, e.g. for concerts, sporting or cultural events.

Voluntary association group of people with shared interests or aims

A voluntary group or union is a group of individuals who enter into an agreement, usually as volunteers, to form a body to accomplish a purpose. Common examples include trade associations, trade unions, learned societies, professional associations, and environmental groups.

French Red Cross national Red Cross Society in France

The French Red Cross, or the CRF, is the national Red Cross Society in France founded in 1864 and originally known as the Société française de secours aux blessés militaires (SSBM).

French Civil Protection Litt. "French federation of civil protection": French voluntary first aid organization. Federation of local associations called "Association départementale de protection civile" (ADPC), litt. "Departmental civil protection associatoin".

The French Civil Protection, or the FNPC, is a French humanitarian and first aid voluntary association.

The volunteers first responders can take part of an emergency rescue team in case of disaster; due to the bad response time (usually some hours to gather the teams), they usually deal with minor casualties, but could theoretically act in first line. In some places (e.g. in Paris), the volunteers take part of the public rescue and partly replace the firemen during the weekends.

Disaster An event or combination of events resulting in major damage, destruction or death

A disaster is a serious disruption, occurring over a relatively short time, of the functioning of a community or a society involving widespread human, material, economic or environmental loss and impacts, which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources.

Paris Capital of France

Paris is the capital and most populous city of France, with an area of 105 square kilometres and an official estimated population of 2,140,526 residents as of 1 January 2019. Since the 17th century, Paris has been one of Europe's major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts.

Diploma

The lowest diploma required to be first responder in France is the PSE 1 (Premiers Secours en Equipe de niveau 1, "Team First Aid level 1") since the large reform of 2007, but the next level : the PSE 2 (Premiers Secours en Equipe de niveau 2, "Team First Aid level 2") is advised to be fully operational with victims.

Before 2007, the diploma was the CFAPSE (certificat de formation aux activités des premiers secours en équipe, "certificate of training to team first aid"). This new degree (PSE 2) is more adapted to the new responsibilities of first responders. To get the PSE 2, you need to have the PSE 1 (intermediate level, 35 h of training) and to have fulfil another 35 hours of training. So, at all, a PSE 2 first responder had followed 70 h of training. In addition, every CFR (PSE 1 and 2) must also follow every year 6 hours of continuing training.

The first responders activity is called secourisme ("rescuism") or prompt secours ("fast aid"), to make the difference with the premiers secours ("first aid") performed by the bystanders (although the name of the diploma contains the words premiers secours...).

Education

Before 2007 : CFAPSE

The organization has changed in 2007. The following describes the situation between 1991 and 2006

The CFAPSE (50-60h) is made of ten modules:

Civil defense protection of the citizens of a state (generally non-combatants) from military attack

Civil defence or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state from military attacks and natural disasters. It uses the principles of emergency operations: prevention, mitigation, preparation, response, or emergency evacuation and recovery. Programs of this sort were initially discussed at least as early as the 1920s and were implemented in some countries during the 1930s as the threat of war and aerial bombardment grew. It became widespread after the threat of nuclear weapons was realized.

Community emergency response team FEMA-sponsored program promoting basic emergency response skills and preparedness

In the United States, community emergency response team (CERT) can refer to

Radio technology of using radio waves to carry information

Radio is the technology of using radio waves to carry information, such as sound and images, by systematically modulating properties of electromagnetic energy waves transmitted through space, such as their amplitude, frequency, phase, or pulse width. When radio waves strike an electrical conductor, the oscillating fields induce an alternating current in the conductor. The information in the waves can be extracted and transformed back into its original form.

It is possible to follow only a partial course (12h) with the E1, E2, E7, E8 and E9 modules. This "first-level" course is called the attestation de formation complémentaire aux premiers secours avec matérielAFCPSAM (additional first aid course with equipment).

Since 2007 : PSE 1 & 2

Since 2007, there are two levels : PSE 1 and PSE 2, the PSE 2 is the equivalent of the former CFAPSE. A PSE 1 first responder is allowed to work with PSE 2 CFR, nevertheless, he has less knowledge than a PSE 2, so will only be a help to a confirmed PSE 2 worker.

  • Program for the PSE 1 : Premiers Secours en Equipe de niveau 1 (Team First Aid level 1) - 35 hours
    • 1) The first aider
    • 2) The rescue link
    • 3) Security aspects
    • 4) The alert
    • 5) Obstruction of the airway
    • 6) Bleedings, wounds, burns
    • 7) Unconsciousness
    • 8) Cardiac arrest
    • 9) Automated external defibrillation
    • 10) Vital emergency
    • 11) Uneasiness
    • 12) Skin injuries
    • 13) Bone injuries
    • 14) Drowning
    • 15) Supervision of the victim
  • Program for the PSE 2 : Premiers Secours en Equipe de niveau 2 (Team First Aid level 2) - 35 hours
    • 1) The team rescue worker
    • 2) Hygiene and asepsis
    • 3) Victim evaluation
    • 4) Care according to the circumstances
    • 5) How the victim is specifically affected
    • 6) Psychological pain
    • 7) Bandaging
    • 8) Immobilisations
    • 9) Moving the victims
    • 10) Hospital porter
    • 11) Situation with more than one victim
    • 12) Summing up

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