Paramedics in The United States - Employment

Employment

Paramedics are employed by various public and private emergency service providers. These include private ambulance services, fire departments, public safety or police departments, hospitals, law enforcement agencies, the military, and municipal EMS agencies in addition to and independent from police or fire departments, also known as a 'third service'. Paramedics may respond to medical incidents in an ambulance, rescue vehicle, helicopter, fixed-wing aircraft, motorcycle, or fire suppression apparatus.

Paramedics may also be employed in medical fields that do not involve transportation of patients. Such positions include offshore drilling platforms, phlebotomy, blood banks, research labs, educational fields, law enforcement and hospitals.

Aside from their traditional roles, paramedics may also participate in one of many specialty arenas:

• Critical care transporters move patients by ground ambulance or aircraft between medical treatment facilies. This may be done to allow a patient to receive a higher level of care in a more specialized facility. Registered Nurses with training in critical care medicine may work side-by-side with paramedics in these settings. Paramedics participating in this role generally also provide care not traditionally administered by Paramedics who respond to 911 calls. Examples of this are blood transfusions, intra-aortic balloon pumps, and mechanical ventilators.
• Tactical paramedics work on law enforcement teams (SWAT). These medics, usually from the EMS agency in the area, are commissioned and trained to be tactical operators in law enforcement, in addition to paramedic duties. Advanced medical personnel perform dual roles as operator and medic on the teams. Such an officer is immediately available to deliver advanced emergency care to other injured officers, suspects, innocent victims and bystanders. The advantage to having dual role paramedics is that medical care is provided almost immediately.
• Hospital paramedics are increasingly employed in both outpatient and inpatient areas. Emergency departments employ the largest number of paramedics working inside of hospitals. Considered ambulatory care, emergency departments are classified as an outpatient area of a hospital. Depending on their scope of practice and job description within the emergency department, paramedics are allowed to triage and assess incoming patients, provide analysis and interpretation of both labs and EKGs, intravenous therapy, drug administration, transportation of emergency department patients to diagnostic testing or their inpatient rooms. Paramedics are also employed in inpatient areas of hospitals as well. Paramedics are utilized in intensive care units assisting physicians with ICU patients and they are utilized on high risk transport teams by providing transportation, continuation of care and, oftentimes, assisting in sedation of patients during minimally invasive and invasive procedures at the bedside and in diagnostic areas. Because of the nature and purpose of these teams, paramedics work closely with radiology, interventional radiology, nuclear medicine and anesthesiology. While not always allowed to practice with the latitude and autonomy paramedics have become accustom to in the prehospital setting, they are increasingly becoming a valued and respected allied health care provider within both the outpatient and inpatient areas of hospitals.