EMS - Emergency Medical Service |
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The Emergency Medical Service system (known by the acronym "EMS" in the USA and Canada) is responsible for providing pre-hospital (or out-of-hospital) care by paramedics, emergency medical technicians (EMT's), and medical first responders (MFRs in US terminology). The goal of EMS is to provide early treatment to those in need of urgent medical care, and ultimately rapid transportation to an Emergency department. Stabilizing patients early (within the golden hour) significantly increases their chances of survival, particularly in the event of a heart attack, diabetic emergency, or severe physical trauma.
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EMT - emergency medical technician |
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An emergency medical technician (EMT) is an emergency responder trained to provide emergency medical services to the critically ill and injured.
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GENERAL PRACTICE |
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A general practitioner (GP) or family physician (FP) is a physician/medical doctor who provides primary care. A GP/FP treats acute and chronic illnesses, provides preventive care and health education for all ages and both sexes. Some also care for hospitalized patients, do minor surgery and/or obstetrics. The term general practitioner is common in the United Kingdom, where the word "physician" is only used for certain specialists and not for GPs.
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PUBLIC HEALTH |
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Public health is concerned with threats to the overall health of a community based on population health analysis. Many organizations define health and how to promote health differently. The World Health Organization, the United Nations body that sets standards and provides global surveillance of disease, defines health as: "A state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."
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URGENT / EMERGENCY CARE |
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Urgent care is the delivery of ambulatory care in a facility dedicated to the delivery of unscheduled, walk-in care outside of a hospital emergency department. The initial urgent care centers opened in the 1970s. Since then this sector of the healthcare industry has rapidly expanded to an approximately 17,000 centers. Many of these centers have been started by entrepreneurial physicians who have responded to the public need for convenient access to unscheduled medical care. Other centers have been opened by hospital systems, seeking to attract patients. Much of the growth of these centers has been fueled by the significant savings that urgent care centers provide over the care in a hospital emergency department. Many managed care organizations (MCOs) now encourage their customers to utilize the urgent care option.
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