District of Columbia Adult Pre-Hospital Medical Protocols
Introduction
The District of Columbia Adult Pre-Hospital Medical Protocols define how Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) and Paramedics are allowed to treat patients in the field. The purpose of the protocols is to provide guidance to the EMT and Paramedic when providing the appropriate care to a patient.
The protocols included here cover a wide range of medical and traumatic incidents; including cardiac arrest, gun shot wounds, cyanide poisonings, mass casualty incidents, and more. The protocols delineate the drugs or skill procedures an EMT and/or Paramedic can do under ‘Standing Orders' (without direct physician involvement) as well as expanded treatments through ‘Medical Control' (through direct voice contact with a physician, the EMT or Paramedic explaining the patient's condition to a physician via radio, and the physician authorizing certain advance treatments). Without the protocols, EMTs and Paramedics would be unable to treat any patient in the field. It is the EMS field provider's medical bible.
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