Prehospital trauma care.

The past two decades have been a period of increased concern over the improvement of prehospital emergency medical care. Training of basic and advanced EMTs to a level of professionalism that includes a distinct body of knowledge and the use of assessment and management skills is only one component of the prehospital system. Communications systems, transportation deployment plans, and improved links with hospitals have contributed to the refinement of emergency medical systems. The management of the trauma victim is an organized plan of controlling the airway, restoring breathing, and supporting ventilation, followed by a secondary survey of the less life-threatening problems. The role of EMTs or paramedics, therefore, is to assess, manage, extricate, and transport.