Medic

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This article is about the title or occupation used in medicine. For other uses, see Medic (disambiguation).
Star of life

Medic (sometimes medico) is a general term for a person involved in medicine; a physician, medical student, or military medical corpsman. In the UK, the term "medic" amongst doctors indicates that someone has followed a "medical" career path accredited by the MRCP such as cardiology or endocrinology. This is in contrast to a surgical branch of specialisation in postgraduate professional training.

Types

A German military paramedic providing first aid to a wounded soldier during the Battle of France, 1940

"Medic" may be used to refer to people in the following role:[citation needed]

  • Emergency physician, a medical doctor (M.D. or D.O.) who has specialized post graduate training in emergency diagnostics and treatment.
  • Combat Medical Technician, a soldier with a specialist military trade within the Royal Army Medical Corps of the British Army.
  • Corpsman, a sailor who is trained for providing first aid to members of the US Armed Forces, combat casualty care/trauma care on the battlefield. (This name is only used by the Navy and Marine Corps for the Hospital Corpsmen who serve in either a Navy or Marine billet; other branches use the term medic.)
  • Emergency medical technician: The procedures and skills allowed at this level are generally non-invasive such as bleeding control, positive pressure ventilation with a bag valve mask, supplemental oxygen administration, and splinting (including full spinal immobilization). In some locations, the EMT-B is trained to reduce joint dislocations - they are allowed one attempt - to reduce the risk of compartmentalization.[citation needed] Splinting a femur fracture may involve use of a traction splint, which will reduce the fracture. Some medications (for example, epinephrine for anaphylactic shock (severe allergic reaction) administered through an auto injection device such as an EpiPen) can only be administered or "assisted" to a patient with a prior prescription. Training requirements and treatment protocols vary from area to area.[citation needed]
    • Emergency medical technician-basic, the entry certification level.
    • Emergency medical technician-intermediate, the middle certification level, between EMT-Basic and Paramedic.
    • Paramedic, a pre-hospital responder to medical and trauma emergencies that provides advanced emergency treatment. It should be noted that in some EMS parlance the use of the term "Medic" is used to refer explicitly to the EMT-Paramedic level and not to the other EMT certifications. An example of this can occasionally be seen in the callsigns for Paramedic-level staffed ambulances (e.g. "Medic-3" etc.).
    • First Aider, a person who is specifically trained to give initial care or treatment to a casualty on scene before more advanced personnel arrives. Organizations such as St. John Ambulance, St. Andrew’s Ambulance Association and the British Red Cross have many trained volunteer first aiders who are often referred to as paramedics.

See also

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