Definition of paramedicine:
The practice of a specialty field of emergency primary healthcare* with a core purpose to evaluate, triage, treat, and prevent unexpected injury and illness in the out-of-hospital setting.
Description of paramedic practice:
Paramedicine encompasses a body of knowledge and theory adapted from healthcare and public safety professions that constructs a unique discipline of clinical care that is often performed in uncontrolled environments. The skills required by practitioners are reflected in the national occupational competency profile of the Paramedic Association of Canada. It further involves the collaboration with other public safety professions, in the cognizance, detection, and administration of public mass gatherings, disasters, and pandemic response.
Explanation of Paramedicine:
The practice of the specialty field of emergency primary healthcare* with a core purpose to evaluate, triage, treat, and prevent unexpected injury and illness in the out-of-hospital setting. It encompasses a body of knowledge and theory adapted from healthcare and public safety professions that constructs a unique discipline of clinical care that is often performed in uncontrolled environments, which is reflected in the national occupational competency profile of the Paramedic Association of Canada. It further involves the collaboration with other public safety professions, in the cognizance, detection, and administration of public mass gatherings, disasters, and pandemic response.
*Definition of primary health care according to the World Health Organization (WHO) (1978).
Primary health care is essential health care based on practical, scientifically sound and socially acceptable methods and technology made universally accessible to individuals and families in the community through their full participation and at a cost that the community and country can afford to maintain at every stage of their development in the spirit of self-reliance and self-determination. It forms an integral part both of the country’s health system, of which it is the central function and main focus, and of the overall social and economic development of the community. It is the first level of contact of individuals, the family and community with the national health system bringing health care as close as possible to where people live and work, and constitutes the first element of a continuing health care process (WHO, 1978).