Quote:They were talking about that being the wave of the future back in '94 when I was in medic school..... There was talk of putting Physicians Assistants or Nurse Practitioners on rigs to do follow up visits, as well as help direct non-emergent patients to more appropriate care.
As I recall Phoenix was working on a pilot program, along with Taxi vouchers which could be used for non-emergency transport once cleared by medics on scene. I don't think either continued for long. PAs and NPs are kind of getting beyond the EMS function and more into public health so stepping on toes. The Taxi vouchers was a potential PR nightmare if anything went wrong.
Tennessee just started a program to use paramedics in this role. It will require additional training, but they haven't designed that program just yet. They are calling them community medics and will be used for post hospital followup care.