A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION, Encouraging the Executive Board of the Legislature to authorize an interim study of the licensure and nomenclature of emergency medical and advanced life support personnel.

WHEREAS, a diverse array of terms has accumulated over time to describe the field of emergency medical services and its practitioners. First responder, emergency medical responder, emergency medical technician, emergency medical technician-intermediate, emergency medical technician-advanced, and emergency medical technician-paramedic are just several of the terms used in this state to describe emergency medical service practitioners. This acts to frequently confuse colleagues within the industry, providers of other public safety and health care agencies, the media, and the public; and

WHEREAS, in 2011, the organization, International Paramedic, stated that the profession was being harmed by the internal divisions and lack of clarity related to nomenclature. Paramedicine as a discipline is much broader than the current roles performed by EMS personnel and includes the totality of the roles and responsibilities of individuals trained, certified, licensed, and credentialed as EMS practitioners. Paramedicine is a professional space that begins with emergency medical response and intervention, but expands to a health profession focused on assisting individuals, families, and communities in attaining, re-attaining, and maintaining optimal health; and

WHEREAS, as with other disciplines and professions in society, standardized, generic terms should be established to describe them and their practitioners. There are efforts at the national and state level to officially recognize and use the term, paramedicine, to describe the distinct discipline and profession that has emerged within the out-of-hospital health care field; and

WHEREAS, the modernization of the licensure and certification levels of ambulance services, emergency medical services, and advanced life support personnel in South Dakota would provide a clearer and more beneficial system of care for its citizens, and keep the state current with industry standards:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the House of Representatives of the Ninety-Eighth Legislature of the State of South Dakota, the Senate concurring therein, that the Executive Board of the Legislature is encouraged to establish an interim committee to study the licensure of providers of emergency medical services and advanced life support personnel in this state; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the interim committee, if established, make recommendations for statutory and regulatory changes to modernize the licensure levels and nomenclature to align with the standardization of paramedicine as a discipline.