The services provided
to accident victims and patients suffering from
severe acute illness and psychiatric emergencies.
Services include the detection and reporting of
medical emergencies, initial care, transportation
and care for patients in route to health care
facilities, medical treatment for the acutely ill
and severely injured within emergency departments,
and the provision of linkages to continued care or
rehabilitation services.
EMS is a branch of
medicine that is performed in the field (i.e., the
streets, peoples' homes, etc.) by paramedics,
emergency medical technicians (EMTs), and certified
first responders (CFRs).
Although not
commonly understood, EMS systems in U.S. provide
emergency care that is almost on par with that of an
emergency room. Every emergency response vehicle is
equipped with state of the art technology to assist
an ailing victim. Equipment and procedures are
obviously limited, due to the nature of the
environment that EMS personnel must work in. EMS
providers work under the license and indirect
supervision of a medical director or board-certified
physician who oversees the policies and protocols of
a particular EMS system or organization.
EMS professionals
are trained to follow a formal and carefully
designed decision tree, more commonly referred to as
a protocol or standard of care, which has been
created and approved by physicians. The emphasis in
emergency services is on following correct procedure
quickly and accurately rather than on making
in-depth diagnosis which requires much professional
experience. The use of a decision tree allows EMS
workers to be trained in a much shorter time than
physicians.
National EMS
standards are drawn up by the U.S. Department of
Transportation and modified from state to state by
the state's Department of EMS (usually under its
Department of Health), and further altered by
Regional Medical Advisory Committees or by other
committees or even individual EMS providers.
.JPG)
