The purpose of this protocol manual is to provide you with a set of guidelines for the treatment of the sick and injured.

These protocols do not cover every possible situation that you will face but they will provide you with basic guidelines for the treatment of the sick and injured.

These protocols are meant to be flexible and to allow you the ability to adapt them to the unique situations that the prehospital emergency care provider will face.

From time to time you will encounter situations that will require deviation from the protocols and even from the accepted standard of care for prehospital emergency medicine.

In order to simplify such situations, Catawba County EMS allows Emergency Medical Technician - Paramedics to perform any procedure or administer any medication that the NCOEMS has approved for EMT-Ps even if the said procedure or medication is not listed in these protocols.

Should an EMT-P desire to use this rule the EMT-P must contact the on-line medical control physician and advise him / her that the procedure / medication is not a part of the established protocols. The physician should also be informed that the NCOEMS does allow the procedure / medication and that the appropriate training has been completed. It is then up to the discretion of the physician as to whether or not to allow the procedure or medication.

Conversely, an EMT-P can perform any procedure or administer any medication allowed by the NCOEMS if ordered to do so by the on-line medical control physician even if that procedure is not part of the established protocols. These procedures and or medications should only be carried out if the appropriate training has been completed. The protocols are based on the following format: