Emergency medical services (EMS), also known as ambulance services or paramedic services, are emergency services that provide urgent pre-hospital treatment and stabilisation for serious illness and injuries and transport to definitive care. They may also be known as a first aid squad, FAST squad, emergency squad, ambulance squad, ambulance corps, life squad or by other initialisms such as EMAS or EMARS.
A paramedic is a healthcare professional trained in the medical model, whose main role has historically been to respond to emergency calls for medical help outside of a hospital. Paramedics work as part of the emergency medical services (EMS), most often in ambulances. They also have roles in emergency medicine, primary care, transfer medicine and remote/offshore medicine. The scope of practice of a paramedic varies between countries, but generally includes autonomous decision making around the emergency care of patients.
A paramedic is a healthcare professional, providing pre-hospital assessment and medical care to people with acute illnesses or injuries. In Canada, the title paramedic generally refers to those who work on land ambulances or air ambulances providing paramedic services. Paramedics are increasingly being utilized in hospitals, emergency rooms, clinics and community health care services by providing care in collaboration with registered nurses, registered/licensed practical nurses and registered respiratory therapists.
The British Columbia Ambulance Service (BCAS) is an ambulance service that provides emergency medical response for the province of British Columbia, Canada. BCAS is one of the largest providers of emergency medical services in North America. The fleet consists of more than 500 ground ambulances operating from 183 stations across the province along with 80 support vehicles. Additionally, BCAS provides inter-facility patient transfer services in circumstances where a patient needs to be moved between health care facilities for treatment. BCAS also operates a medical evacuation program that utilizes both fixed-wing and rotary aircraft.
NSW Ambulance, previously the Ambulance Service of NSW, is an agency of NSW Health and the statutory provider of pre-hospital emergency care and ambulance services in the state of New South Wales, Australia.
The Scottish Ambulance Service is part of NHS Scotland, which serves all of Scotland's population. The Scottish Ambulance Service is governed by a special health board and is funded directly by the Health and Social Care Directorates of the Scottish Government.
The Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service is a Canadian non-profit helicopter air ambulance organization funded by individual donors, service groups, corporate donors and government contributions. STARS provides rapid and specialized emergency care and transportation for critically ill and injured patients. STARS operates from bases in Calgary, Edmonton, Grande Prairie, Regina, Saskatoon, Winnipeg and formerly Halifax.
Ottawa Paramedic Service is a uniformed municipal public safety agency providing emergency and non-emergency paramedic care to residents and visitors of city of Ottawa, Ontario. It is the sole, licensed, statutory provider and is operated directly by the city. The Service is an independent third service provider. This means that it is part of the Emergency and Protective Services department of the city but functions as an independent and separate agency from other services. The Ottawa Paramedic Service operates in compliance with legislation and licensing standards overseen by the government of Ontario. It also provides routine, non-emergency transports and emergency paramedic coverage for special events. It is the only service provider permitted to service medical emergency calls in the City of Ottawa.
The West Midlands Ambulance Service University NHS Foundation Trust (WMAS UNHSFT) is responsible for providing NHS ambulance services within the West Midlands region of England. It is one of ten ambulance trusts providing England with emergency medical services, and is part of the National Health Service.
In the United States, emergency medical services (EMS) provide out-of-hospital acute medical care and/or transport to definitive care for those in need. They are regulated at the most basic level by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which sets the minimum standards that all states' EMS providers must meet, and regulated more strictly by individual state governments, which often require higher standards from the services they oversee.
Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service (WFPS) provides fire and EMS services to the City of Winnipeg, Manitoba. It operates from 27 fire stations, and 3 administration offices across the city.
Emergency medical services in Canada are the responsibility of each Canadian province or territory. The services, including both ambulance and paramedic services, may be provided directly by the province, contracted to a private provider, or delegated to local governments, which may, in turn, create service delivery arrangements with municipal departments, hospitals, or private providers. The approach, and the standards, vary considerably between provinces and territories.
An Emergency Care Practitioner (ECP) generally come from a background in paramedicine and most have additional academic qualifications, usually at university, with enhanced skills in medical assessment and extra clinical skills over and above those of a standard paramedic or qualified nurse. It has been recommended by the College of Paramedics that ECPs be trained to PgDip or MSc level, although not all are. Evidence of the best way to target Emergency Care Practitioners is limited with utilisation of traditional Ambulance dispatch codes not always being shown to be most effective and referrals from GPs also potentially failing to deliver management of demand that would be appropriate for this different level of practitioner. Evidence however clearly demonstrates that in discreet groups of patients the use of these extended role staff responding to emergency calls can reduce admissions and thus improve patient outcomes as well as delivering a clear cost saving to the NHS.
The Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) is the state emergency ambulance and patient transport provider in Queensland, Australia. QAS is part of the Queensland Government under the Queensland Health portfolio and is one of the largest ambulance services in the world.
LifeFlight is an air ambulance critical care transport service that operates in the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.
Ambulance New Brunswick, also referred to as ANB, is a provincial Crown corporation administered by the Department of Health in the Canadian province of New Brunswick.
Air medical services are the use of aircraft, including both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters to provide various kinds of medical care, especially prehospital, emergency and critical care to patients during aeromedical evacuation and rescue operations.
The Ambulance Operators Association of Nova Scotia (AOANS) was the provincial association representing ambulance company owners in Nova Scotia. The association's focus was negotiating with the Government of Nova Scotia over funding and private ownership of ambulance services. The AOANS was also contracted by the Government of Nova Scotia to provide a training program for ambulance personnel and an ambulance inspection program. Between 1994 and 1999, after the publication of the Murphy Report, Nova Scotia transitioned to a single ambulance service provider. This resulted in the AOANS members being bought–out and their ambulance services merged into the new system. The AOANS was formally dissolved in 2002.
All ground ambulance, medical communications, air ambulance service in Nova Scotia, Canada, is contracted by EHS to Emergency Medical Care Inc. (EMC), a subsidiary of Medavie Health Services.
Victoria General Hospital is a hospital in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and part of the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre, which began as the City Hospital in 1859.
