Emergency Medical Service Definition

Definition of Emergency Medical Service

The District of Colombia Department of Health defines an emergency medical service (or EMS) as a service providing out-of-hospital acute care and transport to definitive care, to patients with illnesses and injuries which the patient believes constitute a medical emergency (What is emergency medical service?)

Goal of Emergency Medical Services

The goal of most emergency medical services is to either provide treatment to those in need of urgent medical care, with the goal of satisfactorily treating the presenting conditions, or arranging for timely removal of the patient to the next point of definitive care. Oftentimes, this is an emergency department at a hospital. The term emergency medical service developed

To some extent, these will be determined by country and locale, with each individual country having its own 'approach' to how EMS should be provided, and by whom. In some parts of Europe, for example, legislation insists that efforts at providing advanced life support (ALS) Mobile Intensive Care Units (MICU) services must be physician-staffed, while other permit some elements of that skill set to specially trained nurses, but have no paramedics. Elsewhere, as in North America, the UK and Australasia, ALS services are performed by paramedics, but rarely with the type of direct "hands-on" physician leadership seen in Europe. Increasingly, particularly in the UK and in South Africa, the role is being provided by specially trained paramedics who are independent practitioners in their own right. Beyond the national model of care, the type Emergency Medical Service will be determined by local jurisdictions and medical authorities, based upon the needs of the community, and the economic resources to support

In many countries, such staff are usually only required to perform patient transport duties (which can include stretcher or wheelchair cases), rather than acute care. However, there remain both countries and individual jurisdictions in which economics will not support ALS service, and the efforts of such individuals may represent the only EMS available. Dependent on the provider (and resources available), they may be trained in first aid or extended skills such as use of an AED, oxygen therapy, pain relief and other live-saving or palliative skills. In some services, they may also provide emergency cover when other units are not available, or when accompanied by a fully qualified technician or paramedic.

Emergency medical technician

Emergency medical technicians, also known as Ambulance Technicians in the UK and EMT in the United States are usually made up of 3 levels. EMT-B, EMT-I and EMT-Paramedic. The New Educational Standards for EMS renamed the provider levels as follows: EMR, emergency medical responder, EMT, emergency medical technician, AEMT, advanced EMT, and Paramedic. Technicians are usually able to perform a wide range of emergency care skills, such as Automated defibrillation, care of spinal injuries and oxygen therapy.

Emergency Medical Care