Personnel who work in Emergency Medical Services (EMS) have varied responsibilities. The responsibilities that are generally expected of all EMS personnel (regardless of provider level) to be carried out without direct order and generally on a continual basis. The responsiblities are as follows:

1. Maintain equipment readiness – Ensure the vehicle has fuel and is serviceable at all times while on shift. Ensure the equipment carried on the vehicle is in working order and all items have been restocked according to a checklist and are ‘in date’
2. Safety – Safety is a primary concern among EMS providers. As an EMS provider, it is expected that you manage of your own safety, but the safety of patients and other rescuers/bystanders on the scene.
3. Operate Emergency Vehicles – Ensuring that the vehicle is serviceable, able to run the next call, has fuel, is cleaned, and stocked is a responsibility of the ambulance crew.
4. Provide Scene Leadership – First responders will precede the ambulance on a given call. Once on scene, the ambulance crew will assess and assume responsibility for the care and transport of the patient. The first responders will remain on scene in case the ambulance crew needs their assistance, all they need to know is what to do.
5. Provide scene evaluation and summon additional resources as needed – When you arrive in an emergency vehicle, it is expected that the provider develop the ability to ‘size up’ the situation and summon the most appropriate resources as they are required. The utility of this skill is often overlooked. At georgiaemsacademy.com, the scene size up is taught with all of it’s various remedies for managing multiple patients, unsafe scenes, need for additional rescuers based on the mechanism of injury, and hazardous materials incidents.
6. Gain access to the patient – How can an EMS crew help the patient if they cannot reach the patient? Maybe all you have to do is open a door or maybe you need the fire department to extricate the patient from a vehicle they are trapped inside.
7. Perform a Patient Assessment – Without the ability to assess a patient, how can the EMS crew know how to help the patient or even what destination would most benefit the patient? The georgiaemsacademy.com patient assessment modules will ensure that the provider will possess the enviable ability to assess and appropriate treat patients in a wide array of conditions.
8. Administer emergency medical care while awaiting the arrival of additional medical resources – The ability to assess and manage a patient on a short term basis while awaiting the arrival of an ambulance(s) or the arrival of a paramedic will ensure that the basic tenants of
9. Provide emotional support – EMS personnel often find patients in dangerous or compromising situations. EMS personnel should always strive to put themselves in the patients’ shoes, limit judgement, and be compassionate. Without compassion, EMS personnel are useless. EMS personnel may need to provide emotional support to the patient, the patients’ family, and even other responders.
10. Maintain Continuity of Care – Continuity of care is the medical care the patient will need to make a recover (preferably full recovery). EMS providers are the very beginning of the medical intervention. A patient will never be able to make a complete recovery in their ambulance, it takes the entire medical team to do that. The observations and interventions performed by the EMS crew should be documented and communicated to the personnel at the Emergency Department and any other medical providers the patient will encounter during their recovery.
11. Maintain medical and legal standards and assure patient privacy – EMS personnel are expected to be able to navigate their way around various legal possibilities in medicine. Some of these possibilities include: abandonment, negligence, malpractice, and consent. There are also standards for medical evaluation and treatment that are expected of all medical providers despite discipline.
12. There is no shortage of paperwork that must be completed in a timely manner when working on an ambulance. Administrative skills are always good to have on an ambulance.
13. Enhance Professional Development – A personal decision to always improve will result in a prehospital provider that always remains sharp in any situation. Reading publications, attending training sessions, and even teaching are ways to enhance an EMS providers abilities in the field.
14. Maintain Community Relations – On the most minimal level, simply cleaning your emergency vehicle and wearing a clean shirt could count for community relations. Most people will be friendly to the EMS crew; it’s not too much to ask to be friendly back. Other activities that are conducive to maintaining community relations include teaching CPR, school and public third rider programs, and public appearances. EMS should always be aware that the public being addressed today may be a patient or bystander tomorrow.