Paramedic National Occupational Standard

In recent years, paramedicine has experienced a significant transformation with paramedics acquiring increasing responsibilities and roles beyond the traditional role of transporting individuals to primary health care facilities for treatment. While the role of paramedics has expanded, paramedicine, in Canada, is constrained by a lack of formal and influential national structures and an emphasis for stakeholders on meeting local and regional operating needs. Regulated at the provincial and territorial levels, unique paramedic systems have emerged across the country. There is a need for quality control and standardization in innovative paramedic fields. While traditional paramedicine education and training programs are narrowly focused on emergency response, enhanced paramedic education and training programs continually seek to include a wider range of topics (e.g., health promotion, caring for older adults, palliative care, chronic disease management) in order to create a better connection between the paramedicine curriculum and the emerging roles of paramedics and alternatives to 911 response and transport models of care.