Medical Director

Within emergency medical services a medical director is a physician who provides guidance, leadership, oversight and quality assurance for the practice of local paramedics and EMTs within a predefined area. In North America, medical directors are typically board-certified in emergency medicine. The medical director is generally responsible for either the creation of protocols for treatment by paramedics or providing leadership to the group of physicians who assist with the provision of medical oversight depending on which model of service delivery and which model of medical control are operating. The medical director may also assist the EMS agency in extending its scope of practice. While this definition is a fair description of the role in North America, significant variations can occur in other countries and in other health care systems.

Note: In the interest of clarity, medical directors exist in a variety of other settings in addition to EMS. It is largely a generic term for a physician who has responsibility for the medical control and direction of various types of organizations, including hospital departments, blood banks, clinical teaching services and others. This article focuses specifically on the role of the medical director with respect to the operation of EMS systems.