Emergency medical personnel provide pre-hospital emergency medical care and transportation for the sick and injured.

In Alberta, there are three tiers of emergency medical personnel:

• Emergency Medical Responder (EMR)
• Emergency Medical Technician - Ambulance (EMT-A)
• Emergency Medical Technologist - Paramedic (EMT-P).

Personnel in all three tiers:

• assess the extent of injuries or illness to determine medical treatment
• comfort and reassure patients
• obtain the patient's medical history, if possible
• perform and interpret diagnostic procedures such as taking vital signs and testing glucose levels
• administer pre-hospital emergency care including cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), oxygen, bandaging, splinting, and assisting in childbirth and the treatment of trauma patients
• use a semi-automatic or automatic external defibrillator or bag valve mask resuscitator
• use basic airway management techniques
• transport patients to hospital or other medical facilities for further care
• document and record the nature of injuries and treatment provided
• assist hospital personnel as required
• maintain ambulances, equipment and supplies.

In addition, EMT-As may:

• use spinal immobilization devices and traction splints
• maintain intravenous infusions without medications or blood products
• perform cardiac monitoring
• administer specified medications
• supervise and train staff members and students
• assist paramedics (where there are combined services).

EMT-Ps (often called paramedics) may perform the duties of EMT-As and administer advanced pre-hospital emergency care:

• maintain airways with intubation and surgical airways
• provide manual cardiac defibrillation and external pacing
• monitor and maintain blood and blood product transfusions
• provide wound management
• insert urinary catheters
• operate sophisticated equipment in advanced life-support ambulances, medevac aircraft or other advanced life-support environments
• administer medications for the treatment of medical conditions and management of acute pain
• initiate and maintain intraosseous infusions.

This work is physically demanding. Emergency medical personnel are required to lift loads weighing well over 20 kilograms (for example, patients on stretchers). They must observe safety precautions to avoid injury when working with equipment and exposure to potentially hazardous biological agents.

Emergency medical personnel work both indoors and outdoors, often in stressful circumstances. They may work full-time, part-time or as volunteers. Those employed full-time or part-time work shifts that including evenings, weekends and holidays. They may work 8, 10, 12 or 14 hour shifts.

EMR training programs are designed for people who want to enter the pre-hospital care industry or who already provide emergency services (for example, fire fighters and police officers). 

EMR, EMT-A and EMT-P training programs are offered by public colleges, private schools and other organizations. A current list of approved programs is posted on the Alberta College of Paramedics website. In general, applicants must be at least 18 years of age and have obtained a Standard First Aid certificate and CPR certification at the Basic Rescuer Level (C) within the previous year.

In addition, applicants for EMT-A training must:

• be registered EMRs
• have a high school transcript
• have a valid Class 4 or 5 drivers license.

Applicants for EMT-P training must be registered EMT-As and have a high school diploma with English Language Arts 30-1 or 30-2, Biology 30 or Science 30, and Pure or Applied Math 20 (or equivalent).

Under Alberta's Health Disciplines Act and Emergency Medical Technicians Regulation, only registered members of the Alberta College of Paramedics (ACP) may call themselves Emergency Medical Responders, Emergency Medical Technicians or Emergency Medical Technologist - Paramedics. Registered members provide health services listed in the Regulation.

EMRs work for municipal, private and industrial ambulance services. Some firefighters are qualified EMRs (for more information, see the Firefighter occupational profile). Advancement to the second and third tiers of Alberta's system of emergency medical services requires additional training.

EMT-As work for ambulance services and related industrial and emergency services. Newly graduated EMT-As usually start their careers in rural settings and, after they have gained experience, may move to larger urban centres. Experienced EMT-As may take additional training to upgrade their scope of practice. Use of advanced skills must be approved by the Alberta College of Paramedics and the employing ambulance service.

EMT-Ps are employed by municipal fire and emergency service departments, and private ambulance services. Industries such as the oil and gas industry may employ paramedics to provide emergency medical aid on large job sites. With additional education, paramedics may move into related health care occupations.

All three tiers of emergency medical personnel are included in the National Occupational Classification 3234: Ambulance Attendants and Other Paramedical Occupations. In Alberta, most people employed in this classification work in the following industries:

• Health Care and Social Assistance
• Public Administration.

The employment outlook in this occupation will be influenced by a wide variety of factors including:

• trends and events affecting overall employment (especially in the industries listed above)
• location in Alberta
• employment turnover (work opportunities generated by people leaving existing positions)
• occupational growth (work opportunities resulting from the creation of new positions that never existed before)
• size of the occupation.

Employment turnover is expected to increase as members of the baby boom generation retire over the next ten years.

Salaries for emergency medical personnel vary greatly depending on location (for example, rural or urban setting) and type of employer (for example, private company, regional health authority, fire department). Most EMRs are unpaid community volunteers.

According to the 2009 Alberta Wage and Salary Survey, Albertans in the Ambulance Attendants and Other Paramedical Occupations group earned from $15.74 to $38.46 an hour. The average wage was $23.58 an hour.

For more detailed information, see WAGEinfo.

For information about current collective agreements in the public and not-for-profit sectors, see the Health Sciences Association of Alberta (HSAA) website.

Alberta College of Paramedics (ACP) website: www.collegeofparamedics.org

Health Sciences Association of Alberta (HSAA) website: www.hsaa.ca