I have been called "Ambulance Driver" on several occassions. The state in which I'm certified has five different levels of certification for EMS personnel. They include First Responder, EMT-Basic, EMT-Intermediate, EMT-Defibrillator, and EMT-Paramedic (known as Mobile Intensive Care Technician (MICT)). I will agree that the general public has absolutely NO idea how many titles are available for an EMS professional, and even if they did they wouldn't know the definition of each title. From what I've heard, we're either ALL ambulance drivers, ALL EMTs, or ALL paramedics. The differentiation of titles means nothing to the public, only to those of us in the EMS profession. Hell, even most doctors and nurses don't even know what each level of EMT can and can not do. It's all about public education. We need to step up and make the public we serve aware of what we do. Though we all drive the ambulance from time to time, we are all much more capable of providing patient care then what was offered back when EMS was born.
Stay Safe