Licensing and Qualifications
Paramedics qualified in British Columbia are broadly referred to as Emergency Medical Assistants and are licensed by the Emergency Medical Assistants (EMA) Licensing Board (EMALB), a government agency, under one of five categories:
- Emergency Medical Responder (EMR)
- Primary Care Paramedic (PCP)
- Infant Transport Team Paramedic (ITT)
- Advanced Care Paramedic (ACP)
- Critical Care Paramedic (CCP)
EMR and PCP are Basic Life Support (BLS) qualifications while ACP is an Advanced Life Support (ALS) qualification; ITT has some pediatric advanced protocols; CCP has a whole different scope of practice. BCAS protocols are universal protocols which a qualified practitioner may employ at any time, up to his or her license qualification, within the provincial borders, given that the required equipment is at hand. Licencing qualifications and endorsements can be found in the EMA Regulations under Schedule 1 and Schedule 2.
Read more about this topic: British Columbia Ambulance Service