Emergency medical responder

Emergency medical responders are people who are specially trained to provide out-of-hospital care in medical emergencies. There are many different types of emergency medical responders, each with different levels of training, ranging from first aid and basic life support to advanced life support. Terms may have different meanings with different training requirements in different countries.

General terms
Medic is a term that may be used to denote a wide range of trained medical responders, from people who provide basic first aid to physicians. Usage of medic does not imply that the individual provides any specific level of care. In some areas, paramedic is also used as a general term for medical responders. However, paramedic may also be a specific level of training.

A first responder is the first medically trained personnel who come in to contact with a patient. Additionally, there are several levels of training that are referred to as first responders.

Levels of training
First responders, as a level of training, perform basic first aid skills and CPR. Healthcare providers who are certified first responders (known as community first responders in the UK) have some additional training in basic life support. These responders may either be lay people or associated with an ambulance service.

Emergency medical technicians (EMT) are the next level of providers. Within the United States, there are three common levels of EMTs, each with an increased scope of practice: EMT-Basic, EMT-Intermediate, and EMT-Paramedic (also known as a paramedic).

Paramedics have the most training of the emergency medical responders. Paramedics perform advanced life support.

Emergency physicians may also respond to serious medical emergencies. Depending on the location, physicians may work on an ambulance, an air ambulance, or use a fly-car.

Additional types of responders
In the field of wilderness first aid, medical providers receive additional training relating to wilderness medicine. There are several levels of certification that parallel the aforementioned levels, which include Wilderness First Responder and Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician.

Street medics provide medical care at protests and demonstrations. They have varying degrees of medical training and are usually are volunteers.

Flight medics are usually trained paramedics who may receive an additional certification (FP-C) to function in an aeromedical environment. Flight medics work out of an air ambulance.

A combat medic is a trained soldier who is responsible for providing first aid and front-line trauma care on the battlefield. In the Royal Army Medical Corps of the British Army, these medics are known as Combat Medical Technician. In the United States Army, these healthcare specialists are known as 68W (the Military Occupational Specialty classification).