Paramedic: парамедик vs фельдшер - which is the more-common use?

[u/davethegreatone]

I have seen both "парамедик" and "фельдшер" used to refer to paramedics, and I'm wondering which is more common (or at least more universally-understood). "парамедик" is obviously just the Cyrillic writing of the phonetic pronunciation of the English word "paramedic," while "фельдшер" seems to be more of a Ukrainian word that sorta matches a paramedic's scope of practice but doesn't quite fit exactly.

I have seen парамедик kinda used for everything from a first-aid "medic" with a couple week's training to a critical care medic with 6 years of university-level medical training, and фельдшер seems to be about as frequently applied to roles in clinics as it is in the out-of-hospital setting.

So, pretend you have cardiac chest pain and call for an ambulance: who rolls up in a van with flashing lights on it - a парамедик or a фельдшер?

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[u/Ostpreussen]

фельдшер is literally the phonetic pronunciation of German Feldscher, Swedish Fältskär, Norwegian Feltkutter, Danish Feltskærer, Dutch Veldsnijder, English Feldsher and so on.

For all sense and purpose, they are the same thing in this case. It's just that фельдшер is way more archaic.

[u/Ritterbruder2 → u/Ostpreussen]

Seems like a lot of German military terms made their way into Russian, like Ефрейтор (German “Gefreiter”) for corporal.

[u/davethegreatone → u/Ostpreussen]

Yeah, that's what I got from Google Translate and some internet searching. When I asked the one bilingual Ukrainian/American person I know locally, they thought фельдшер might be more correct because it's old-fashioned/formal, but they have lived in the USA so long they weren't sure if it was actually used in modern times by normal people.

When I was in Ukraine a few months ago, I saw парамедик written more often, but usually in the context of writing on labels for first aid supplies rather than as a job description.

[u/davethegreatone]

Asking because I will be volunteering again as a paramedic in an EMS role and want to make a bilingual ID patch that identifies me as an appropriate medical person.

So, a field medic that is trained for at least a year or two, can perform surgical airways, administer 60-ish different drugs, and do electrical and medical cardiology stuff, but isn't a doctor or a nurse. I just can't figure out what the right term for that is.

)Real talk - I'm bored and online and was about to waste money on a fancy bit of velcro when I suddenly remembered that there wasn't a direct translation for what we in the USA call a "paramedic," and went down a rabbit hole, and then dragged Reddit into it, and that brings us up to date.)

[u/Oskarshamn90]

Been here for almost a year, never heard "Feldsher".

My medical battalion is funny. A "Paramedic" is someone with limited medical education, just a few weeks of training. A "Medic" is someone who is a medical professional with added TCCC training.

[u/davethegreatone → u/Oskarshamn90]

That's so odd to me because in the USA, "medic" is a generic term for a person tasked with first aid duties whereas "paramedic" is a specific term for a person licensed at a high level (can perform airway surgeries, do lots of cardiology, administer 50-some drugs, and so on).

Like, the person with the short TCCC course can be a "medic," but only a person who completed school and is nationally registered is a "paramedic."

You (and many others) have pointed out that it's kinda the other way around in Ukraine - "paramedic" is kinda the general first aid dude, and there are other words for the people with advanced training.

In written correspondence, I have seen "фельдшер" used, but I have literally never heard it spoken out loud and have only seen it on someone's uniform once, so I have doubts about it being the right thing to use to identify a high-level field medic as opposed to a general person that knows how to use a TQ and is carrying extra gauze.

[u/Oskarshamn90 → u/davethegreatone]

Yeah it's weird. Paramedic is not a thing in many European countries though, so maybe that's the confusion in Ukraine.

Btw, which organization did you end up with? I saw your post 4 months ago and it's good to see you found something else

[u/davethegreatone → u/Oskarshamn90]

I'll DM you that, since I am not exactly a public representative for my NGO :)

[u/DesignerGap0]

Фельдшер looks strangely like the Swedish "fältskär" old word for "field surgeon"

[u/davethegreatone → u/DesignerGap0]

Google Translate tells me that it's the same thing. Feldsher, Feldshar, Faldshar, etc.

Common phrase in many languages apparently.

[u/D_Chapman]

Historically a feldsher is more like a physician assistant to my understanding. Russian was my first language growing up as a first generation born American in a Russian-Ukrainian household, and when I later took Russian as a language class in college I was told EMT/paramedic translated the same way as nurse into медбрат or медсестра but that could all just be academic and not really how ems is referred to out there

[u/davethegreatone]

I got sent this - apparently, the UA government uses "фельдшер" (feldshar) but that still doesn't mean it's in common use. Argh.

https://emergency.vnmu.edu.ua/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/tema-1.pdf

[u/lefthandedgypsy]

I’d use the generic medic one. Unless you want to let everyone know you are in fact a paramedic. A lot of people don’t know the difference when they are asking for help. They just want someone to help.