Editing Paramedic (section)

== Functions and duties ==
The paramedic role is closely related to other healthcare positions, especially the [[emergency medical technician]], with paramedics often being at a higher grade with more responsibility and autonomy following substantially greater education and training.<ref name="node">{{Cite web|url=https://www.cpc.mednet.ucla.edu/node/27|title=What's the Difference Between an EMT and a Paramedic? |website=UCLA CPC |date=18 September 2014 |language=en|access-date=2018-09-12}}</ref> The primary role of a paramedic is to stabilize people with life-threatening injuries and transport these patients to a higher level of care (typically an emergency department). Due to the nature of their job, paramedics work in many environments, including roadways, people's homes, and depending on their qualifications, wilderness environments, hospitals, aircraft, and with SWAT teams during police operations. Paramedics also work in non-emergency situations, such as transporting chronically ill patients to and from treatment centers and in some areas, address social determinants of health and provide in-home care to ill patients at risk of hospitalization (a practice known as community paramedicine<ref>{{cite web | title = Community Paramedicine | publisher = Health Resources and Services Administration, Office of Rural Health Policy |date=March 2012 | url = https://www.hrsa.gov/sites/default/files/ruralhealth/pdf/paramedicevaltool.pdf | access-date = 10 May 2020 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200824002852/https://www.hrsa.gov/sites/default/files/ruralhealth/pdf/paramedicevaltool.pdf |archive-date= August 24, 2020 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Hilton|first=Michael|date=7 February 2018|title=Community Paramedics: Redefining EMS|url=https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/892055_2|access-date=1 November 2020|website=Medscape |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201202041952/https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/892055_2 |archive-date= Dec 2, 2020 }}</ref>).

The role of a paramedic varies widely across the world, as EMS providers operate with many different [[Emergency medical services#Models of care|models of care]]. In the Anglo-American model, paramedics are autonomous decision-makers.{{cn|date=April 2024}} In some countries such as the United Kingdom and South Africa, the paramedic role has developed into an autonomous health profession.{{cn|date=April 2024}} In the Franco-German model, ambulance care is led by physicians. In some versions of this model, such as France, there is no direct equivalent to a paramedic.{{cn|date=April 2024}} Ambulance staff have either the more advanced qualifications of a physician or less advanced training in [[first aid]].{{cn|date=April 2024}} In other versions of the Franco-German model, such as Germany, paramedics do exist. Their role is very similar to the role of paramedics in the Anglo-American model with an advanced scope of autonomy and practice,<ref>{{cite web | title=Befugnisse: Was darf ein Notfallsanitäter? | lang=de| website=Notfallsanitäter-Aktuell.de | date=4 January 2024 | url=https://notfallsanitaeter-aktuell.de/was-darf-ein-notfallsanitaeter/ | access-date=18 April 2024}}</ref> and the added element of [[emergency physician]] backup, either virtually ([[:de:Telenotarzt|Tele-Notarzt]]) or on scene with a rapid response vehicle / helicopter. The role of paramedics in Germany has evolved from support to physicians in the field to the central role in pre-hospital emergency care.<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Lauer | first1=Daniel | last2=Bandlow | first2=Stephan | last3=Rathje | first3=Maik | last4=Seidl | first4=Andreas | last5=Karutz | first5=Harald | title=Veränderungen und Entwicklungen in der präklinischen Notfallversorgung: Zentrale Herausforderungen für das Rettungsdienstmanagement | journal=Bundesgesundheitsblatt - Gesundheitsforschung - Gesundheitsschutz | volume=65 | issue=10 | date=2022 | issn=1436-9990 | pmid=36112196 | pmc=9483533 | doi=10.1007/s00103-022-03588-x | pages=987–995 | language=de}}</ref> 

The development of the profession has been a gradual move from simply transporting patients to hospital, to more advanced treatments in the field. In some countries, the paramedic may take on the role as part of a system to prevent hospitalization entirely and, through practitioners, are able to prescribe certain [[medical prescription|medications]], or undertaking 'see and refer' visits, where the paramedic directly refers a patient to specialist services without taking them to hospital.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Emergency Medicine Journal|title=Which extended paramedic skills are making an impact in emergency care and can be related to the UK paramedic system? A systematic review of the literature|year=2012|doi=10.1136/emermed-2012-202129 |doi-access=free |pmid=23576227|volume=31|issue=7|pages=594–603|last1=Evans|first1=Rachel|last2=McGovern|first2=Ruth|last3=Birch|first3=Jennifer|last4=Newbury-Birch|first4=Dorothy|pmc=4078671}}</ref>