Who should deliver the pre-hospital care?

Those who provide basic pre-hospital trauma care have had formal training in pre-hospital care, scene management, rescue, stabilization and transport (World Health Organization, 2005). Essential basic pre-hospital care techniques can be delivered by emergency medical technicians staffing ambulances. Advanced techniques can only be provided by:

• Paramedics (emergency medical technicians who have received further training) e.g. in the UK
• Nurses specialised in critical care e.g. in the Netherlands.
• Physicians in mobile intensive care units which is a system widely used in Europe e.g. in Belgium, Germany, France, Italy.
  
  

In order to make the best use of resources, a two-tier system has been set up in some European countries comprising emergency medical technicians as the first tier and mobile intensive care units as a second tier.