[MichaelCollins]

Police in America often have paramedic training as well, for a reason. You say "both attend" but somebody gets there first. Sometimes police get there first, sometimes firefighters get there first. All should be encouraged to get trained.

All three would receive firefighter training too, if not for the obvious issue of their vehicles and equipment being specialized and expensive. But all of them can be trained to render first aid, so that is encouraged.

[chrisseaton]

Maybe it's different in the US but in the UK 'paramedic' is a full-time thing, professionally registered and monitored. You'd seriously struggle to combine that with any other full-time profession. They do it in the military is the only place I know that combines it. I can't see it as being realistic to train everyone as a paramedic for our definition of it. I doubt most people could pass the training.

[MichaelCollins]

Obviously paramedics are registered and obviously not everybody is cut out for it. That should go without saying. There are grades of paramedic and I think most firefighting paramedics are likely not the most specialized of all of them, but I feel confident in asserting that nearly any paramedic firefighter in America is qualified to monitor patients in the waiting room of a hospital.

As for the rest, I have a lot of gripes with the American system of healthcare, but the quality of first responders is not among them. If I ever have a heart attack while driving and crash into a tree, I'll be very happy if the volunteer firefighter who cuts me out of my car is also a paramedic. My complaints about the American system will be reserved for the private for-profit doctors they bring me to.

[chrisseaton]

Ah right maybe we in the UK only use the word 'paramedic' to mean the most specialised, advanced trauma life-support level and you use it more broadly. I'm sure all police and firefighters here do get advanced first-aid training.

[JshWright]

We definitely don't use it more broadly (in the industry, anyway... the public certainly mixes them up at times). Paramedics are ALS level care providers in the US.

[JshWright]

"Paramedic" means roughly the same thing in the US and UK. UK training standards are a bit higher, but in both cases they are professional roles, with ongoing training requirements, etc. They have a very similar scope of practice, both providing advanced level care.

In the US it's pretty common for fire departments to require EMT level training, with some folks then going on to get their Paramedic certification. Agencies that require everyone to be a paramedic are rare (but they do exist).