paramedicine

Paramedicine is a health profession and domain of practice concerned with the assessment, treatment, and care of people experiencing acute illness, injury, or other urgent health needs in a wide range of out-of-hospital and related settings. It has developed internationally from a vocation based solely around pre-hospital emergency response into an autonomous profession with a broad scope of evidence-based practice. Paramedics work across emergency, urgent, primary and community care, and may also hold non-clinical roles in education, leadership, research, public health and system development.

Although the organisation and regulation of paramedicine vary across countries, international consensus recognises several shared features: paramedicine forms an essential component of modern healthcare systems; paramedics possess complex clinical knowledge and skills enabling them to practise safely in unscheduled, unpredictable or dynamic environments; and depending on jurisdiction, they may practise under medical direction from physicians or as independent clinicians.