THE ROLE OF HEALTH ASSISTANCE TECHNICIANS IN EMS: RESPONSIBILITIES AND SCOPE OF PRACTICE

Abstract

Emergent healthcare is delivered through the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) framework both historically and in the present day. Health Assistance Technicians are generally involved in providing basic emergency interventions in order to stabilize patients and prepare them for transit to a care facility. The services and agencies in which they operate are funded and practiced differently throughout the country, and there is currently no standardization involving Health Assistance Technicians within the context of EMS. The Health Assistance Technician has a vital role in patient care both functionally and logistically, and this essay lays out their responsibilities and the impact of their training, which is varied and in some circumstances unknown. In the current healthcare structure, Health Assistance Technicians have continued to seek clarity on their niche within the EMS framework historically, while care delivery is what moves the field forward in the present.

The development of history provides a mix of challenges and opportunities for the profession. For the technician working within the EMS framework, crafting a distinct role in the beginning around which they and their sponsoring organization can build training is the incentive to innovate, and evidence points to a history of trends through Health Assistance Technician development that speaks to such innovation. Through a cross-disciplinary exploration of the nature of the Health Assistance Technician, this essay aims to define the responsibilities of the profession and the requirements for practice within the sector of emergent healthcare. It critically assesses historical bounds and describes a handful of practitioners and organizations that have stepped forward to develop innovative roles and reasons behind their intent to start anew. Providing an account of responsibility from a labor perspective also helps to clarify how the responsibilities of a Health Assistance Technician have been narrowed and expanded at various points in 20th and 21st century U.S. society.