Emergency medical services
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Federal laws and regulations require hazardous-materials-response training for EMS personnel and other emergency responders. The requirements, however, aren't entirely clear about the amount of time and topics to be covered for EMS training. EMTs and paramedics should either be trained to the highest level at which they are likely to perform, or their performance levels should be restricted to the highest level to which they have been trained.
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These guidelines were developed as national EMS voluntary standards to: 1) Establish standard nomenclature for levels of aeromedical crew members; 2) Define the training requirements for each level; 3) Define the medical control requirements for aeromedical crew members; 4) Describe the application of the standards; and 5) Describe the general content areas of the training of aeromedical crew members. The AMA Commission on EMS has reviewed the current draft of the proposed national EMS voluntary standards and decided to accept them for inclusion in this second edition of the Air Ambulance Guidelines with the expectation that the final version of the ASTM Committee F-30 standard will be essentially the same as the current draft standard. The guidelines are designed to acquaint practicing physicians, especially those practicing in rural and remote areas, with the following factors which affect the transportation of patients by air ambulance: 1) Risks to the patient flying at high altitudes; 2) Equipment, both general and specific, required to render anticipated care; 3) Qualifications of personnel aboard the air ambulance, and the level of care required in transit; 4) Care required for specific medical and surgical conditions during flight.