New NREMT EMS Titles?

The National Registry has posted the "New Levels" of EMS Providers. EMR, EMT, AEMT (Advanced EMT), and Paramedic (Gone are the EMT-Intermediates). What do you all think?

I like it, with the exception of the word "Advanced" for AEMT because this is also used in "ALS" and "ACLS" which both have skills (such as reading an ECG) which an AEMT will not have and I can see some potention confusion... such as our city council asking why we pay Paramedics to ride ALS ambulances when we clearly have "Advanced EMTs" to do it for less pay.
When some time back NREMT put out for suggestions, I had submitted: EMR (Responder), EMT (Tech), EMS (Specialst) and EMP (Paramedic)... of course the only problem there being EMS is already used for EMServices. Oh well, I don't have all the answers.
So, what do you think of the titles? The loss of the EMT-I, gin of the AEMT (in Virginia we already have EMT-Enhanced, basicly the same thing... most of what a Paramedic can do minus anything having to do with reading and ECG).

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Permalink Reply by Skip Kirkwood on November 20, 2010 at 8:49am

Probably pretty quick, but that's not something that I agree with in the least. And this group of Supremes has at least indicated that the power of the Spending Clause and the Commerce Clause is not unlimited. It is a real stretch to make something purely local, like EMS, appropriate federal fodder. And after the last election.....well, we shall see!

And that would require DOT and CMS to collaborate, which is usually next to impossible!

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Permalink Reply by Michael Touchstone on November 20, 2010 at 2:20pm

On one hand, this train left the station a while back with the national scope of practice document. the educational and certification levels where decided then. Too late to change that as the National EMS Education Agenda for the Future is a done deal. NREMT is only certifying those levels. A number of states have already codified these labels in statute (PA for instance).

On the other hand, the people that do EMS at any level in any organization anywhere would have to agree that everyone that does EMS should be called and recognized as a paramedic by the public. Have you ever tried to achieve consensus with EMS folks. I have (most recently this weekend) and it is hard with 20 people let alone every EMS provider/practitioner across the country. Do you think that paramedics really want an EMR to called a paramedic? Or an EMT?

If we choose to go down this path, which I believe has merit, we need to look long term. Folks are too confused and stressed with the changes happening now; EMT-B to EMT, EMT-I (of various flavors) to A-EMT, and EMT-P to paramedic.

My personal opinion is this. If we ever hope to see some recognition of Paramedicine as an allied health profession, a recognized profession, paramedics will have to eventually be educated to the post-graduate level, just like other professions. All the other certification levels will, in my opinion remain technically trained, rather than professionally educated. this will make a clear distinction between paramedics and all other EMS practitioners. Unless of course they get a new and different name.

So should we follow the Canadian model? I can't see it happening now in this climate. If we choose to do so, we need to take a long range view, and commit to the long hard road, to do the work needed to make such a transition real.

Understand that recognition as a profession is fundamentally different than behaving professionally. ALL EMS practitioners should behave professionally!

How we're labeled, how we're named, makes a difference. We have to choose for ourselves how we wish to be labeled. The issue at this point is, in what venue can we get everyone to discuss the merits, identify the risks and then agree on a course of action.

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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on November 20, 2010 at 3:56pm

How about the short, sweet, and easy-to-remember "Medic". It's part of the job titles and certifications we already have: ParaMEDIC, Emergency MEDICal Technician, etc.

If that's too simplistic, we could just use "Paramedic" and accomplish the same thing.

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Permalink Reply by dr-exmedic on November 21, 2010 at 8:21pm

Ooh, I think I can generate almost as much wrath as a "fire vs. non-fire" thread:

Call the base level of prehospital medical provider a "paramedic," and the person who does CPR and drives the ambulance a "paramedic assistant."

(ducks) ;)

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Permalink Reply by Joe Paczkowski on November 21, 2010 at 8:31pm

dr-exmedic said:

Call the base level of prehospital medical provider a "paramedic," and the person who does CPR and drives the ambulance a "paramedic assistant."

(ducks) ;)

Paramedic Assistant= PA, which is going to be confused with physician assistants. However, there is no medical provider I can think of that goes by the initials AD.