A paramedic is a medical professional, usually a member of the emergency medical service, who primarily provides pre-hospital advanced medical and trauma care. A paramedic is charged with providing emergency on-scene treatment, crisis intervention, life-saving stabilization and, when appropriate, transport of ill or injured patients to definitive emergency medical and surgical treatment facilities, such as hospitals and trauma centers.

The use of the specific term paramedic varies by jurisdiction, and in some places is used to refer to any member of an ambulance crew. In countries such as Canada and South Africa, the term paramedic is used as the job title for all EMS personnel, who are then distinguished by the terms primary or basic (e.g. Primary Care Paramedic) intermediate, or advanced (e.g. Advanced Care Paramedic. This approach may be completely appropriate in such jurisdictions, where primary care staff receive more than double the classroom and clinical training of an EMT, and in fact more than those in some jurisdictions permitted by law to call themselves paramedics. In countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom, the use of the word paramedic is restricted by law, and the person claiming the title must have passed a specific set of examinations and clinical placements, and hold a valid registration, certification, or license with a governing body. Even in countries where the law restricts the title, lay persons may incorrectly refer to all emergency medical personnel as 'paramedics', even if they officially hold a different qualification, such as emergency medical technician-basic.

The term paramedic comes from para- (auxiliary) +medical, meaning "related to medicine in an auxiliary capacity," the military term paramedic, meaning a parachuting medical corpsmen, came later.

History of paramedicine

Throughout the evolution of what we now call paramedicine, there has been an ongoing association with military conflict. One of the first indications of a formal process for managing injured people dates from the Imperial Legions of Rome, where aging Centurions, no longer able to fight, were tasked with organizing the removal of the wounded from the battlefield and providing some form of care. Such individuals, although not physicians, were probably among the world's earliest surgeons, suturing wounds, completing amputations, and not through training, but by default. This trend would continue throughout the Crusades, with the Knights Hospitallers of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, known throughout the British Commonwealth today as St. John Ambulance, filling a similar function.