Purpose




Emergency medical services exists to fulfill the basic principles of first aid, which are to Preserve Life, Prevent Further Injury, and Promote Recovery. This common theme in medicine is demonstrated by the "star of life". The Star of Life shown here, where each of the 'arms' to the star represent one of the six points, are used to represent the six stages of high quality pre-hospital care, which are:

  1. Early detection – members of the public, or another agency, find the incident and understand the problem
  2. Early reporting – the first persons on scene make a call to the emergency medical services (911) and provide details to enable a response to be mounted
  3. Early response – the first professional (EMS) rescuers are dispatched and arrive on scene as quickly as possible, enabling care to begin
  4. Good on-scene/ field care – the emergency medical service provides appropriate and timely interventions to treat the patient at the scene of the incident without doing further harm.
  5. Care in transit -– the emergency medical service load the patient in to suitable transport and continue to provide appropriate medical care throughout the journey
  6. Transfer to definitive care – the patient is handed over to an appropriate care setting, such as the emergency department at a hospital, in to the care of physicians

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