Nature of the Work

An EMT is a health professional whose primary focus is to respond to, assess and triage emergent, urgent, and non-urgent requests for medical care, apply basic knowledge and skills necessary to provide patient care and medical transportation to/from an emergency or health care facility. Depending on a patient's needs and/or system resources, EMTs are sometimes the highest level of care a patient will receive during an ambulance transport, EMTs often are paired with higher levels of personnel as part of an ambulance crew or other responding group. With proper supervision, EMTs may serve as a patient care team member in a hospital or health care setting to the full extent of their education, certification, licensure, and credentialing. In a community setting, an EMT might visit patients at home and make observations that are reported to a higher-level authority to help manage a patient's care. When practicing in less populated areas, EMTs may have low call volume coupled with being the only care personnel during prolonged transports. EMTs may provide minimal supervision of lower level personnel. EMTs can be the first to arrive on scene; they are expected to quickly assess patient conditions, provide stabilizing measures, and request additional resources, as needed.

Emergency Medical Technicians:

• Function as part of a comprehensive EMS response, community, health, or public safety system with defined clinical protocols and medical oversight.
• Perform interventions with the basic equipment typically found on an ambulance 15 to manage life threats, medical, and psychological needs.
• Are an important link within the continuum of the emergency care system from an out-of-hospital response through the delivery of patients to definitive care.

Other Attributes:

The majority of personnel in the EMS system are licensed at the EMT level. The EMT plays many important roles and possesses the knowledge and skill set to initially manage any emergency until a higher level of care can be accessed. In areas where AEMT or Paramedic response is not available, the EMT may be the highest level of EMS personnel a patient encounters before reaching a hospital. EMTs advocate health and safety practices that may help reduce harm to the public

Primary Role

Provide basic patient care and medical transportation within the emergency care system.

Advanced Emergency Medical Technician (AEMT)

The AEMT is a health professional whose primary focus is to respond to, assess and triage nonurgent, urgent, and emergent requests for medial care, apply basic and focused advanced knowledge and skills necessary to provide patient care and/or medical transportation, and facilitate access to a higher level of care when the needs of the patient exceed the capability level of the AEMT. The additional preparation beyond EMT prepares an AEMT to improve patient care in common emergency conditions for which reasonably safe, targeted, and evidence-based interventions exist. Interventions within the AEMT scope of practice may carry more risk if not performed properly than interventions authorized for the EMR/EMT levels. With proper supervision, AEMTs may serve as a patient care team member in a hospital or health care setting to the full extent of their education, certification, licensure, and credentialing. In a community setting an AEMT might visit patients at home and make observations that are reported to a higher level authority to help manage a patient's care.

Advanced Emergency Medical Technicians:

• Function as part of a comprehensive EMS response, community, health, or public safety system with medical oversight.
• Perform focused advanced skills and pharmacological interventions that are engineered to mitigate specific life-threatening conditions, medical, and psychological conditions with a targeted set of skills beyond the level of an EMT.
• Function as an important link from the scene into the health care system.

Other Attributes:

The learning objectives and additional clinical preparation for AEMTs exceed the level of an EMT. In areas where Paramedic response is not available, the AEMT may be the highest level of EMS personnel a patient encounters before reaching a hospital. AEMTS advocate health and safety practices that may help reduce harm to the public.

Primary Role Provide basic and focused advanced patient care; determine transportation needs with the health care system.