When the EMS system was just getting started, all patients were transported to a hospital. Today, in certain instances such as cardiac arrest, or when a patient is not seriously ill or injured, not all patients are transported from the scene to a hospital. As stated earlier, patients were once transported in hearses or station wagons, with nobody taking care of them in the back. Station wagons and hearses have been replaced with huge 15,000-pound trucks that our EMS personnel call monster medics. Today, there are board certified emergency medical care physicians waiting to help patients.
Nurses now receive certification in emergency care and specialized training in trauma.
Hospitals may hold special levels of designation in trauma care. There are specialized burn centers to handle burn patients and special children s hospitals that handle only pediatric patients. Definitive care has come a long way, as has EMS, in a relatively short time. According to Paramedic Mitch Mendler, originally, the Star of Life was supposed to be something different for the different types of EMS personnel. For administrative and dispatch personnel, the Star of Life was to have a silver colored edge and the staff of Aesculapius, a silver colored serpent.