Expanding the role of the EMT-paramedic to the hospital emergency department

Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) of varying levels of certification have been used to assist in hospital emergency departments since the nursing shortage of the 1980s. Although the literature reflects the controversy regarding the use of paramedics in hospital emergency departments, no research was found documenting whether agreement existed between emergency physicians and registered nurses in the delegation of patient care tasks to paramedics functioning as emergency department technicians.;A state-wide study was conducted to document the consensus among nurses and physicians regarding the tasks they would agree to delegate to an emergency department technician. A random sample of 285 emergency department registered nurses, 85 emergency physicians, and 366 EMT-paramedics completed questionnaires documenting which patient care tasks the doctors and nurses would delegate, and those tasks the paramedics would agree to perform.;The first sections of the questionnaires requested demographic information relative to each group; the second section contained a standard list of 31 patient care tasks. Paramedics agreed to perform 29 of the 31 tasks, physicians agreed to delegate 17 of the tasks, and nurses agreed to delegate 6 of the tasks. Consensus in delegation and performance of 6 of the 31 tasks was documented between nurses, physicians, and paramedics.