Abstract Countries all over the world are prone to face a broad range of emergencies that result from hazards of varying degree and scale, international consequences, and other complexities. Through experiencing these emergencies, a country’s political, social, economic, and public health are hugely impacted and can even lead to long-term consequences that can persist for years even after the occurrence of the emergency. The cause of the emergencies can be from natural disasters, disease outbreaks, radio-nuclear or chemical spills, and conflict, among other hazards. The emergencies undermine the social development of a country by hitting the people’s hard-earned health gains. Moreover, health facilities and their infrastructure can also be damaged bringing about the weakening of health systems, which means that attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will be slowed. When such emergencies occur, the international community faces pressing challenges when preparing for, responding to, and recovering. The following purpose of this paper is to look at the professional development model for Emergency Medical Services personnel.

Introduction

Over 700 natural and technological emergencies occur yearly around the globe, and they have the potential of affecting nearly 270 million people and killing over 120, 000 (World Disasters Report, 2011). The most affected continents are the developing countries because they have limited capacities when preparing and responding to emergencies. Fire, EMS, or emergency management have a sole mission that looks at preventing or minimizing the loss of life and damage to the environment from adverse effects borne of fire, medical emergencies, and hazardous conditions. In their respective departments, they develop approaches geared towards reducing hazards to the community. Through the knowledge, skills, expertise, and training, offered, they reduce the risk by providing effective service delivery and education. All the three areas have specializations that lead towards a specific area for professional development purposes....

These are the core areas for professional development in any of the departments an individual is interested in undertaking.
What does it take someone to work in the fire, Emergency Medical Services (EMS), or emergency management?

The EMS is an area of a national network of services that are mainly coordinated to provide medical assistance and aid from a primary response to definitive care. In the network, the areas involved are personnel training in rescue, transportation, stabilization, and even advanced management that look at areas such as trauma and medical emergencies. It was in 2007 that the National EMS Scope of Practice Model was published. The document defines the four levels of EMS personnel, the practices, and minimum skills required for each level. On education level, mastery is recommended especially from previous competencies. Therefore, individuals in this field should demonstrate each skill within his or her practice scope and for patients covering all age groups.

Under the Standards Section, a definition of clinical behavior, competencies, and judgments that need to be met by EMS personnel under the entry-level are given. The competencies for individuals in EMS include mathematics, reading, and writing besides EMT-Basic, physiology, and human anatomy as essentials. The preparatory section looks at the EMS system where the paramedic’s roles and responsibilities are carefully outlined. Moreover, it covers the well-being of the paramedic as it looks at the prevention of injury and his or her illness is covered.

Paramedic

The entry requirements for individuals in this field include having a high school diploma, displaying high physical fitness levels, passing the emergency medical technicians (EMT) Basic, and intermediate (EMT-B or EMT-I) programs…