The Florida Senate

401.435  First responder agencies and training.--

(1)  The department must adopt by rule the United States Department of Transportation Emergency Medical Services: First Responder Training Course as the minimum standard for first responder training. In addition, the department must adopt rules establishing minimum first responder instructor qualifications. For purposes of this section, a first responder includes any individual who receives training to render initial care to an ill or injured person, other than an individual trained and certified pursuant to s. 943.1395(1), but who does not have the primary responsibility of treating and transporting ill or injured persons.

(2)  Each first responder agency must take all reasonable efforts to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the emergency medical services licensee within whose territory the agency operates in order to coordinate emergency services at an emergency scene. The department must provide a model memorandum of understanding for this purpose. The memorandum of understanding should include dispatch protocols, the roles and responsibilities of first responder personnel at an emergency scene, and the documentation required for patient care rendered. For purposes of this section, the term "first responder agency" includes a law enforcement agency, a fire service agency not licensed under this part, a lifeguard agency, and a volunteer organization that renders, as part of its routine functions, on-scene patient care before emergency medical technicians or paramedics arrive.

History.--s. 24, ch. 92-78; s. 11, ch. 95-408.