This overview is meant to provide you with a general understanding of the

Regulated Health Professions Act. Please note, the following material contains descriptions of the Regulated Health Professions Act and related Acts and is not intended as a definitive legal explanation of the legislation. The reader is advised to consult the actual legislation for specific wording and terminology.

For more information on the Regulated Health Professions Act and how it affects health professions, please visit:

http://www.hprac.org/en/keylegislation/keylegislation.asp

Controlled Acts Performed by Paramedics 

As listed in the Regulated Health Professions Act, there are 13 Controlled Acts and Paramedics perform more than any other health care profession other than physicians.  Each act that paramedics can perform are highlighted along with examples of how paramedics perform those acts.   

Communicating to the individual or his or her personal representative a diagnosis identifying a disease or disorder as the cause of symptoms of the individual in circumstances in which it is reasonably foreseeable that the individual or his or her personal representative will rely on the diagnosis. - YES ("Your arm is obviously broken & you need to go to the hospital for treatment")

Performing a procedure on tissues below the dermis, below the surface of a mucous membrane, in or below the surface of the cornea, or in or below the surface of the teeth, including the scaling of teeth. - YES (Intraosseous infusions, needle decompression, IV initiation)

Moving the joints of the spine beyond the individual's usual physiological range of motion using a fast, low amplitude thrust. - NO

Setting or casting a fracture of a bone or a dislocation of a joint. - YES (application of traction splint, straightening a fracture before immobilizing)

Administering a substance by injection or inhalation. - YES (Ventolin administration, glucagon, epinephrine, IV's etc.)

Putting an instrument, hand or finger
    beyond the external ear canal
    beyond the point in the nasal passages where they normally narrow, - YES (nasal airway)
    beyond the larynx, - YES (ETT)
    beyond the opening of the urethra, - YES (Foley Catheter insertion)
    beyond the labia majora, - YES (prevention of cord compression during abnormal/breech delivery, BiManual Fundal Massage)
    beyond the anal verge, or - YES (administration of rectal valium)
    into an artificial opening into the body. - YES (surgical airways) 

Applying or ordering the application of a form of energy prescribed by the regulations under this Act. - YES (Defibrillation, Cardio-version, Transcutaneous Pacing) 

Prescribing, dispensing, selling or compounding a drug as defined in subsection 117 (1) of the Drug and Pharmacies Regulation Act, or supervising the part of a pharmacy where such drugs are kept. - YES (anytime you give a med outside the patient's normally prescribed medications) 

Prescribing or dispensing, for vision or eye problems, subnormal vision devices, contact lenses or eye glasses other than simple magnifiers. - NO

Prescribing a hearing aid for a hearing impaired person. - NO

Fitting or dispensing a dental prosthesis, orthodontic or periodontal appliance or a device used inside the mouth to protect teeth from abnormal functioning. - NO

Managing labour or conducting the delivery of a baby. - YES (self-explanatory)

Allergy challenge testing of a kind in which a positive result of the test is a significant allergic response (RHPA, section 27). - NO

The 8 acts that any level paramedic can perform are #'s 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, & 12.