With International Paramedics Day taking place on 8th July, it is a fitting time, not only to recognise the important work that you do and the valuable contributions that you make to patient care, but also to have a look back at the roots of paramedicine and acknowledge the progress that paramedics have made in advancing the paramedic profession.
Just as International Nurses Day takes place on 12th May—the birth date of Florence Nightingale—to honour nurses around the world, International Paramedics Day is marked on 8th July—the birth date of a French military surgeon serving under Napoleon Bonaparte, Dominique-Jean Larrey, who is credited as being the father of modern-day ambulance services. Larrey was born more than 250 years ago, in 1766, and is known to have created the first ambulance, introducing ambulance services, field hospitals and first aid services to the battlefield.
However, this year is only the third annual International Paramedics Day, as it was introduced by the College of Paramedics in 2022 in response to the remarkable sacrifices being made by paramedics during the COVID-19 pandemic. The celebration of this day being such a recent development only serves to emphasise the youth of the paramedic profession—yet, the growth it has seen has been tremendous.
Having started out as a hospital transport service, paramedics now provide treatment and care to patients in their homes and on the road, often preventing the need for hospital admission altogether. Paramedics are also making great strides in primary and secondary care, such as in GP surgeries and emergency departments, as well as in the military, in offshore and remote medicine, in prisons, hospices, helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS), in the independent sector and in research, among other areas.
There are also many paramedics working within the academic arena to prepare the next generation of paramedics for increasingly diverse and skilled roles. In addition to the work being carried out on the frontlines, in leadership roles, and in the education sector, paramedics are carrying out important research that continues to develop the evidence base, upon which paramedic practice rests and that it uses to continually improve and evolve, as we have observed, particularly over recent decades.
In my role as editor of the Journal of Paramedic Practice for the last 7 years, I continue to be struck by the dedication of my editorial board members, peer reviewers and authors, all of whom are volunteering their time to develop the paramedic profession in addition to the day-to-day work that they carry out in clinical practice, leadership, education and research. They are passionate and actively invested in the growth of paramedicine.
This year, the theme of International Paramedics Day is ‘The difference we make’, which honours the ways in which paramedics and first responders make a difference to the communities they serve, whether it be through responding to life-threatening emergencies, or by providing supportive and compassionate care to their patients and their families when they need it most.
Here at the Journal of Paramedic Practice, we want to thank you for the work you do, and the passion with which you do it. It cannot be easy, yet you often make it look so. We, as a journal, would not be here without you and we hope that you feel as supported by us as we do by you. Cheers to each of you.