Emergency situation in practice of a paramedic

Providers of the emergency medical service are the basic bodies of the integrated rescue system. The paramedics that work in the emergency medical service participate in dealing with emergencies in cooperation with other bodies of the integrated rescue system. Unlike the common operations of the emergency medical service, during emergencies it is necessary to perform the rescue and clean-up work according to the appointed rules of the integrated rescue system. An essential part of the paramedics´ duty are various emergency activities exercising. The aim of the diploma thesis is to introduce a concept of an emergency and participation of paramedics in emergency and distress events. Furthermore, the thesis highlights frequent flaws in paramedics´ knowledge and points at such mistakes that might appear straight during an operation. It should contribute to improvement of an educational system for the paramedics who participate in dealing with emergencies. There are two research questions and two hypotheses set up for this aim. Research question 1: How do the paramedics perceive an emergency? Research question 2: What kind of experience of emergency solutions do the paramedics have? Hypothesis 1: The knowledge of a paramedic concerning the procedures during an emergency is influenced by the length of their practical duty. Hypothesis 2: The knowledge of a paramedic concerning the procedures during an emergency is influenced by the experience in dealing with the procedures. The research part comprises interviews with ten paramedics who practise their profession at least one year. Furthermore, a questionnaire construction with 106 respondents who work as paramedics at least the same time. The set of respondents and informants is composed of some members of the regional emergency medical services of the Czech Republic and other/private providers of the emergency medical services. The results of the thesis provide some flaws in paramedics´ knowledge from the field of the integrated rescue system as well as in cooperation with its other bodies, especially in operations coordination during the emergencies. The results provide an observation that even with a longer practical duty in emergency medical services and with better experience in dealing with emergencies, the knowledge and often also communication and coordinating skills of the paramedics will not improve. The weak points are the fields of terminology, function and structure of the integrated rescue system and their implementation in practical duty. The thesis fully reveals that during an operation of the professional bodies of the integrated rescue system in emergencies, mistakes occur in coordination and communication. It happens that the set competencies are not respected by individual bodies.