Advanced Care or Advanced Life Support – What are we Providing?

The field of paramedicine has undergone significant change and modernisation over the past 50 years. Presently there are no consistent terms or lexicon used across the profession to describe different levels of advanced practice. This inconsistency risks creating confusion as the professionalisation of paramedic practice continues. As well, many empirical studies support the claim that communication and the importance of managing language actively plays a crucial role in supporting change and in shaping the new paradigm. Therefore, the way one uses communication, and the deliberate choice of words to describe advance practice, will support change in the desired direction. This article explores these terms and their attendant influences on perceptions of practice to argue for change towards the standardised use of the term ‘advanced care paramedic’ across the Anglo-American paramedic system.