(Image: Allan Dearing)
Advanced care paramedics (ACP) in New Brunswick will now be able to use the full scope of their practice.
On Thursday, the province announced that any certified ACP can use their additional skills anytime they work a shift as a paramedic.
“Allowing our advanced care paramedics to use their full scope of practice helps improve medical service throughout our province,” Health Minister Dorothy Shephard said in a news release.
Up until now, advanced care paramedics operated in four specific areas, including Saint John, Moncton, and Fredericton.
Under that model, a lone ACP would join a primary care paramedic crew to make a crew of three, responding to more complex calls.
“The expansion of this program will mean greater medical expertise and enhanced service for patients in New Brunswick,” Richard Losier, CEO of Extra-Mural/Ambulance New Brunswick, said in the release.
New Brunswick’s 57 ACPs can provide a host of additional interventions, such as advanced airway management, needle thoracotomy and advanced electrical therapy.
They are also equipped with additional medications crucial for treating conditions such as seizures, cardiac arrhythmias, postpartum hemorrhage, trauma and pain.
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