The Real Paramedic
Written by Marcus H (airdoc_8 )
A man collapses from cardiac arrest;
a vehicle strikes a child on his bicycle; a woman becomes unconscious from a
heroin overdose. Most people know that
Paramedics respond to these medical emergencies and many others, but most do
not realize the vital role they play in saving a person’s life. An unfortunate fact is that most people are
not educated in what a Paramedic can do. This leaves a stereotypical impression of a
Paramedic. Paramedics have come a long
way throughout the years and although not viewed as medical experts, Paramedics
are the highest level of prehospital care providers and are truly healthcare
professionals.
The beginnings of Emergency Medical
Services (EMS) were horrific, due to the inability to treat patients prior to
hospital arrival. Not that long ago, the
ambulance was simply a vehicle that provided rapid, horizontal transportation
to the hospital. (Bledsoe, Porter, and
Cherry 6) Most baby boomers remember
when Cadillac hearse-ambulances were the primary means of transporting patients
to the hospital in the mid fifties. In
this era, there were no Paramedics to provide life saving medical
interventions, just ambulance drivers. This
unintelligent approach to an EMS system
resulted in a catastrophic mortality rate.
It would be sixteen years until the revision
of prehospital care took place. In 1966
the publication of “Accidental Death and Disability: the Neglected Disease of
Modern Society” by the National Academy of Sciences, National Resource Council,
focused attention on the problem. “The
White Paper,” as the report was called, spelled out the deficiencies in
prehospital emergency care. It suggested
guidelines for the development of EMS systems,
the training of prehospital emergency medical providers, and the upgrading of
ambulances and their equipment. (Bledsoe,
Porter, and Cherry 11) This report
resulted in Congress passing numerous acts granting millions of dollars to EMS systems across the nation. Emergency Medical Technician classes began to
erupt all over, and then soon after that, Paramedic classes. With
Paramedics now having improved medical training and improved equipment, the
mortality rate of patients begin to decrease.
As medical technology increased over the years, so did the level of care
that the Paramedic could administer.
In today’s EMS
systems, Paramedics are knowledgeable, medical experts, able to perform a wide
variety of medical interventions. These include, endotracheal and nasotracheal
intubation, manual defibrillation, synchronized cardioversion, transcutaneous
pacing, surgical cricothyroidotomy, intraosseous cannulation, pericardiocentesis,
and the administration of over seventy drugs, just to mention a few . Not only are Paramedics saving lives on the
streets, their scope of practice has increased, enabling them to perform
medical treatment in other places than prehospital alone. In
some areas, paramedics are employed in emergency departments and critical care
inpatient units. Paramedics may be beneficial to patient care in that setting due
to their specialized knowledge and skills related to the management of acute
emergencies. Experienced paramedics can also be found as the sole medical
provider at remote industrial locations, such as oil rigs and platforms
offshore. Their knowledge, skills, and resourcefulness are useful here as well;
transport can take hours or days, without communication with a physician. (Wikipedia)
Understanding what Paramedics can do and how
their medical skills have rapidly progressed throughout the years, can provide
comfort in knowing that when a Paramedic arrives on scene, the emergency is
over. Paramedics today are highly
trained men and women that fight the constant battle of saving lives,
everyday. One thing is for certain,
Paramedics are truly healthcare professionals.
Works Cited
Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Paramedic.
Vers. 1.2. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 20 Oct. 2006
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramedic>.
Bledsoe, Bryan E., Robert S. Porter, and Richard A.
Cherry. Essentials of Paramedic Care. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey:
Julie Levin Alexander, 2003.
Bledsoe, Bryan E., Robert S. Porter, and Richard A.
Cherry. Essentials of Paramedic Care. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey:
Julie Levin Alexander, 2003.
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