This textbook, the 2nd edition of Essentials of Paramedic Care, will serve as your guide and reference to advanced prehospital care. It is based on the 1998 U.S. Department of Transportation's Emergency Medical Technician-Paramedic National Standard Curriculum and is divided into five divisions:

Division 1 Introduction to Advanced Prehospital Care

Division 2 Patient Assessment

Division 3 Trauma Emergencies

Division 4 Medical Emergencies

Division 5 Special Considerations/Operations.

Division 1, Introduction to Advanced Prehospital Care, presents the foundations of paramedic practice as well as an introduction to pathophysiology, pharmacology, medication administration, and airway management and ventilation. Division 2, Patient Assessment, adds the cognitive and psychomotor skills of patient assessment, communications, and documentation. This knowledge base expands as the series applies it to the trauma patient in Division 3, Trauma Emergencies, and to the medical patient in Division 4, Medical Emergencies. Division 5, Special Considerations/Operations, enriches these general patient care concepts and principles with applications to special patients and circumstances we commonly see as paramedics. The product of this complete and integrated series is a set of principles of care you will be required to practice as a twenty-first-century paramedic.

Your paramedic education program should include ample classroom, practical laboratory, in-hospital clinical, and prehospital field experience. These educational experiences must be guided by instructors and preceptors with special training and experience in their areas of participation in your program.