Emergency Medical Assistants Licensing Branch

The Emergency Medical Assistants Licensing Branch provides administrative support to the Emergency Medical Assistants Licensing Board by:

  • reviewing  training programs;
  • administering examinations;
  • issuing and renewing licences;
  • ensuring continuing competence requirements are met;
  • managing complaint files; and
  • developing and implementing policy on behalf of the board.

The branch is the main contact for emergency medical assistants, employers or the public looking for information about licensing requirements, licence status, and complaints about emergency medical assistants.

The branch is led by the director, also referred to as the registrar. All branch staff are employees of the Ministry of Health, and branch funding is provided by the ministry.

Statistics

As of January 30, 2023, there are 15,496 EMAs licensed in British Columbia.

 
Licence Category 

# of EMAs

January 13, 2022

# of EMAs

March 31, 2022

# of EMAs

June 30, 2022

# of EMAs

January 30, 2023

 Change↓↑
EMA First Responder (EMA FR) 7,568 7,439 7,337 7,204 ↓133
Emergency Medical Responder (EMR) 2,659 2,679 2,681 2,885 ↑204
Primary Care Paramedic (PCP) 4,412 4,427 4,338 4,546 ↑208
Advanced Care Paramedic (ACP) 665 658 685 708 ↑23
Critical Care Paramedic (CCP) 127 137 133 132 ↓1
Infant Transport Team (ITT) 23 23 22 21 ↓1
Total EMAs in BC 15,454 15,363 15,196 15,496 ↑300

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Legislation and Regulations

The Emergency Medical Assistants Licensing Board and the Emergency Medical Assistants Licensing Branch operate under the following legislation and regulations:

Section 11.1 of the Emergency Health Services Act relates to emergency medical assistants' obligations regarding advance directives. For more information, please read the EMA Special Bulletin (PDF, 525KB) on advance directives.

Other legislation and regulations that affect emergency medical assistant practice include: