Share Your Thoughts on the Words Used to Describe the EMS Profession

Public Comment on Nomenclature of the EMS Profession Draft White Paper Open through October 25. 2019

This year, representatives from stakeholder and membership organizations gathered to discuss how the EMS profession describes itself and its activities. The organizations were convened by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Office of EMS (supported in part by the Health Resources and Services Administration's EMS for Children Program) resulting in a draft white paper summarizing the use of different words to refer to the practice of EMS and the people who provide EMS services.

The white paper draft is available for public review and comment through October 25. Later, the group of stakeholder representatives will review and discuss the feedback received from the community before finalizing and releasing the white paper. The white paper outlines the conversations of the stakeholder group representatives, capturing the diverse range of opinions held across the profession. Over the course of the meetings, this working group tackled topics such as whether the general public understands what EMS is and whether or not "emergency medical services" continues to best describe the profession.

Anyone wishing to provide comments on the summary document can download it here and send feedback via email to EMS.Nomenclature@redflashgroup.com. Comments referring to specific portions of the draft should use the page and line numbers for reference. Visit the project website on EMS.gov for the more information.