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Below are links to the protocols used by paramedics operating in Hennepin County. For those of you unfamiliar with EMS, paramedics, while highly educated in emergency medical care, are not physicians. Like nurses and other healthcare workers, they can only provide care under the order of a physician. In many emergencies, time is critical. With this in mind, protocols or "standing orders" have been developed by the Hennepin County EMS Council, based on recommendations by emergency physicians, EMS Medical Directors (also emergency physicians), and paramedics operating in Hennepin County. These protocols dictate what actions a paramedic can take on his or her own, based on the patient's illness or injury. In many cases, treatment is performed by the paramedics on standing orders alone, without a need to communicate with a physician. In other cases, some treatments may be initiated, and a consultation with a certified medical control physician at a local emergency department is required. These physicians have taken additional training in radio operations, and have a better understanding of the paramedic's capabilities and limitations than most personal physicians. Based on the paramedic's report, additional treatments enroute to the hospital may be recommended by the medical control physician.
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