Sharing knowledge in paramedicine

The paramedic profession overall has transitioned from a patient-transport service to a specialised faculty of medicine in the last few decades. Likewise, paramedic training has grown to keep up with the ever-evolving demands of this profession. While some nations in the west are on the verge of integrating paramedic units in community medicine, other developing nations are still defining paramedics' professional role in an emergency. As such, if we were to map emergency care from different countries, we would see a spectrum of efficiency and development. A scan of global emergencies paints a picture of the varied situations paramedics are exposed to.

Recent news reports that an Australian teenager was viciously attacked by saltwater crocodiles after jumping into a lake for a dare. Paramedics who recovered the body of another victim nearby said that the boy was lucky to have escaped death, but sustained fatal injuries. Meanwhile in a less wild but equally barbaric incident in New York, a paramedic was run over by her own ambulance while on call. A young man entered the ambulance and reversed it, crashing into parked cars and killing a 44-year-old paramedic. Having rampantly driven the ambulance for several blocks, the man was caught by a member of the public in what is being described as a ‘heroic act’.