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.
An emergency medical technician is a medical professional that provides emergency medical services. EMTs are most commonly found serving on ambulances and in fire departments in the US and Canada, as full-time and some part-time departments require their firefighters to be EMT certified.
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.
The Seattle & King County Emergency Medical Services System is a fire-based two-tier response system providing prehospital basic and advanced life support services.
A medical director is a physician who provides guidance and leadership on the use of medicine in a healthcare organization. These include the emergency medical services, hospital departments, blood banks, clinical teaching services and others. A medical director devises the protocols and guidelines for the clinical staff and evaluates them while they are in use.
A nontransporting EMS vehicle, also known as a squad car, fly-car, response vehicle, quick response service (QRS) vehicle,chase car, or fast response vehicle, is a vehicle that responds to and provides emergency medical services (EMS) without the ability to transport patients. For patients whose condition requires transport, an ambulance is necessary. In some cases they may fulfill other duties when not participating in EMS operations, such as policing or fire suppression.
In the United States, the paramedic is a allied health professional whose primary focus is to provide advanced emergency medical care for patients who access Emergency Medical Services (EMS). This individual possesses the complex knowledge and skills necessary to provide patient care and transportation. Paramedics function as part of a comprehensive EMS response under physician medical direction. Paramedics often serve in a prehospital role, responding to Public safety answering point (9-1-1) calls in an ambulance. The paramedic serves as the initial entry point into the health care system. A standard requirement for state licensure involves successful completion of a nationally accredited Paramedic program at the certificate or associate degree level.
Marion County’s Emergency Medical Services Alliance, Inc. (EMSA) was a non-profit governmental Emergency Medical Services (EMS) agency created by a partnership between The Marion County, Florida Board of County Commissioners, The City of Ocala, Ocala Regional Medical Center/West Marion Community Hospital and Munroe Regional Medical Center. EMSA was responsible for providing leadership, field supervision and medical direction for 911 based emergency medical services responses, patient contacts, and ambulance transportation within the 1,653-square-mile (4,280 km2) service area in North Central Florida from 2003 to 2008.
Public Utility Model (PUM), is an emergency medical service (EMS) system. In a Public Utility Model system, the government is a "purchaser" of dispatchers, emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and paramedic providers from an EMS provider (contractor). In most cases, this is a private (for-profit) ambulance company. In the ownership of a Public Utility Model, the community retains control of EMS system capital assets and accounts receivable through daily oversight. The EMS provider (contractor) manages the day-to-day operations of the service and provides the system with properly trained providers.
The Center for Emergency Medicine of Western Pennsylvania is a multi-hospital consortium based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is claimed to be one of the world's premiere centers of Emergency Medicine and EMS development. It currently ranks sixth for residencies in emergency medicine by reputation.
Louisville Metro Emergency Medical Services is the primary provider of pre-hospital life support and emergency care within Louisville-Jefferson County, Kentucky. LMEMS is a governmental department that averages 90,000 calls for service, both emergency and non-emergency, each year.
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.
Emergency Medical Service in Germany is a service of public pre-hospital emergency healthcare, including ambulance service, provided by individual German cities and counties. It is primarily financed by the German public health insurance system.
An advanced emergency medical technician is a provider of emergency medical services in the United States. A transition to this level of training from the emergency medical technician-intermediate, which have somewhat less training, began in 2013 and has been implemented by most states. AEMTs are not intended to deliver definitive medical care in most cases, but rather to augment prehospital critical care and provide rapid on-scene treatment. AEMTs are usually employed in ambulance services, working in conjunction with EMTs and paramedics; however they are also commonly found in fire departments and law enforcement agencies as non-transporting first responders. Ambulances operating at the AEMT level of care are commonplace in rural areas, and occasionally found in larger cities as part of a tiered-response system, but are overall much less common than EMT- and paramedic-level ambulances. The AEMT provides a low-cost, high-benefit option to provide advanced-level care when the paramedic level of care is not feasible. The AEMT is authorized to provide limited advanced life support, which is beyond the scope of an EMT.
Emergency Medical Technician is the entry level of Emergency Medical Technician in the United States.
In the United States, the licensing of prehospital emergency medical providers and oversight of emergency medical services are governed at the state level. Each state is free to add or subtract levels as each state sees fit. Therefore, due to differing needs and system development paths, the levels, education requirements, and scope of practice of prehospital providers varies from state to state. Even though primary management and regulation of prehospital providers is at the state level, the federal government does have a model scope of practice including minimum skills for EMRs, EMTs, Advanced EMTs and Paramedics set through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Emergency medical services in the Netherlands is a system of pre hospital care provided by the government in partnership with private companies.
New Orleans Emergency Medical Services is the primary provider of advanced life support emergency medical services to the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Unlike most other emergency medical services in the United States, New Orleans EMS operates as a third service and is not part of the New Orleans Fire Department; rather, New Orleans EMS is operated by the New Orleans Health Department and the New Orleans Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.
The Recognition of EMS Personnel Licensure Interstate CompAct, also known as REPLICA, is an interstate compact that extends a "privilege to practice" in the United States from a 'home state' to 'remote states' for qualified Emergency Medical Services personnel. For a state to participate in the compact, a state must pass the model legislation into law. On October 11, 2017, when Georgia signed the REPLICA legislation into law, the EMS Compact was formalized and the Interstate Commission for EMS Personnel Practice was established.
