WHEREAS there exist several agencies within the Province of British Columbia that provide training for first aidemergency response personnel, all of whom are required to demonstrate a suitable degree of proficiency, a proficiency that requires considerable dedication, time and expense to achieve and maintain; AND WHEREAS skills acceptable to one agency of the Province are not necessarily recognized by another agency of the Province, resulting in much duplication of training, with the attendant and unnecessary duplication of time and expense by individuals seeking more than one agencys certification: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Union of BC Municipalities urge the Province of British Columbia to establish a standardization of emergency training within the Province to facilitate the portability of training between its agencies that require emergency trained personnel.
BC Ambulance Service Professional emergency health responders are authorized by the Emergency Medical Assistant Licensing Board to act within the scope of their license. License categories in ascending order of degree and complexity of knowledge and skills, include: First Responder FR, Emergency Medical Responder EMR, Primary Care Paramedic PCP and Advanced Care Paramedic ACP. A previous lower license category of Emergency Medical Assistant First Aid, was eliminated. Although FRs, EMRs and potentially paramedics can be trained at different institutions, they are all subjected to the same license process and therefore must meet a common standard. All training programs are constructed to conform to the National Occupational Competencies Profile NOCP developed by the Paramedic Association of Canada and endorsed by the Canadian Medical Association. The minimal requirement for a FR usually employed by a municipal fire department is a current FR license. Although there are three levels of first responder designation, a recent recommendation to condense into one FR level has been accepted in principle by the Emergency and Health Services Commission on the recommendation of the Cameron Report. The minimum requirement to attend to patients on a BC Ambulance call is Emergency Medical Responder. The BCAS is working toward increasing the baseline knowledge and skill of all paramedics to the Primary Care Paramedic level but there are locations in the Province of British Columbia Province where only EMRs are currently available. Despite licensing levels providing a core foundation of skills and knowledge, each employer is obligated to define the quality of care. One employer may require a higher standard of care but none will fall below the license level standard for that particular category. The EMA Licensing Board provides the standardization of licensing levels to ensure that, despite where training occurred, a minimum standard is met. The licensing process is used to ensure that responders from other provinces meet British Columbia standards. Since programs in the Province meet national standards, licensing in other provinces for those trained in British Columbia should be a relatively easy process.