Paramedic

A paramedic is a healthcare professional, predominantly in the pre-hospital and out-of-hospital environment, and working mainly as part of emergency medical services (EMS), such as on an ambulance.

Duties and functions

The paramedic role is closely related to other healthcare positions, especially the emergency medical technician role, with paramedics often being a higher grade role, with more responsibility and autonomy.

The scope of the role varies widely across the world, having originally developed as a paraprofession in the United States during the 1970s. Since this time, in countries such as the United Kingdom, the paramedic role has developed into an autonomous health profession, with individual licence to practice, whilst in other countries (including the United States) the paramedic remains an agent working on behalf of a doctor. There are different models of care for EMS providers which significantly influence the scope of practice of paramedics in an area. In the Franco-German model paramedics directly support a doctor in the field, in a role more akin to a hospital nurse, rather than operating with clinical autonomy.

Paramedics (film)

Paramedics is a 1988 comedy film starring George Newbern and Christopher McDonald.

Plot

When this group of rowdy and raunchy, laid-back medics are transferred from their cushy uptown district to the rough south-end, they find plenty of trouble when they discover the tough guys are playing a "corpses-for-dollars" scam and they want to crack the case.

DVD release

Lions Gate Home Entertainment has not announced any current plans to release the film onto DVD.

External links

Paramedics (TV series)

Paramedics was a medical-based television reality show that ran on TLC from 1999 to 2001 and now runs infrequently on Discovery Health Channel. A spin-off of Trauma: Life in the E.R., Paramedics followed the activities of teams of EMTs and paramedics in a number of large urban centers in the United States. The series was never as popular in its original run on TLC as its parent show Trauma, but it has found a home on Discovery Health Channel, serving in a four-show rotation in the 1800-2000 EST/EDT time block with Code Blue: New Orleans, Code Blue: Savannah, and Trauma: Life in the ER.

The show had no regular cast; every week featured a different city and a different group of paramedics. Actor Michael McGlone narrated the series. Composer Chuck Hammer scored the series.

The excitement as well as the occasional tedium of being a member of a paramedic team is evident, as cases ranging from life-and-death to broken wrists to false calls are all featured. The show differed from Trauma: Life in the E.R. in that it did not show surgeries and hospital discharges. Instead, it focused on the importance of a paramedic's immediate care and social skills in dealing with a variety of (often resistant and combative) people.