I am a Pennsylvania Paramedic and am really liking the new protocols. It's nice to see research driving EMS care. As far as the ALS and BLS interface. I completely agree with it. If you have an EMT and Paramedic on the same unit, the the higher level provider should be the one making initial contact and performing the patient assessment irregardless of the patients complaint. If the Medic feels the EMT can handle then fine. But then again, if the Paramedic has to type a PCR for their assessment they may as well just ride with the patient. I'm not sure how this will work with billing if an ALS assessment is performed but patient is then accompanied by EMT on same unit.
Another reason I agree with it is I have the belief that an EMT level provider is too minimal to be a primary care provider on an ambulance. And I am not saying that to be condescending. How can 140hrs be sufficient to address a patients needs? I was a career EMT for commercial and 911 FD EMS for about 16yrs prior to becoming a Paramedic. And late into those years I really started to question my benefit as an EMT to the patient which is why I became a Paramedic. With the exception of rare, life-threatening calls all an EMT can do is an assessment and O2. And for those keeping up to date with the latest in O2 therapy, even that has fallen out of favor as it has shown to be harmful in many cases and is reflected in the new PA protocol as titration of oxygen to SpO2> 94%.
Just my opinion.