But the creators of emergency response systems say there are reasons why EMT's roles are limited. Dr. Lothar Pinkers helped design Washington State's program. But in reality, give them drugs and they have the opportunity for committing just as much mayhem as they do benefit. Pinkers, a trauma surgeon, recently retired from his practice, says EMT's don't have the know-how to make complex clinical decisions in the field. EMT training is only 120 hours, compared to 1,000 hours or more for paramedics.
Some paramedics agree.
The classroom is completely different. Our classroom tends to be the hospital. The EMT's classroom tends to be a fire station. On an off-day from his job, Seattle paramedic Michael Mann said EMT's can misread patient's symptoms. What appears to be an allergic reaction, for example, in an older patient can actually be congestive heart failure.