PARAMEDICS AS ALLIED HEALTH-CARE PROVIDERS IN THE PEDIATRIC EMERGENCYDEPARTMENT

Objective: To determine the frequency of use and scope of practice of paramedics in the pediatric emergency department (PED). Design: Thirty -eight question mailed survey. Participants: One hundred eighty direct ors of pediatric emergency medicine departments. Main results: One hun dred twelve (62%) pediatric emergency medicine directors completed the survey of which 87 (74%) had a physically distinct FED. The PEDs saw an mean volume of 29,563 patients per year. Twenty-one percent of the PEDs surveyed had paramedics who were employed as allied health person nel. Paramedic responsibilities in the PEDs included patient transport , 89%; laboratory transport, 67%; IV access, 78%; medication administr ation, 22%; suturing, 11%; assisting, 94%; intubation, 6%; and narcoti c administration, 11%, Paramedic mean starting salary was $9.55 (SD +/ - 1.90)/h) versus nurse mean starting salary of $15.03 (SD +/- 3.58)/h (P < 0.001). PED directors who employed paramedics rated the success of their paramedic program as 7.9 (SD +/- 1.7) on a stale from 1 (not at all successful) to 10 (very successful). Conclusions: Paramedics ca n function successfully as members of the FED patient care team. In a resource-scarce health care environment the use of paramedics may be a cost-effective adjunct to nursing support.