Pre-Hospital Care Protocols

The State of Maine uses statewide EMS protocols for the care of patients in the pre-hospital environment. Protocols are developed by the Maine EMS Medical Direction & Practices Board (MDPB) and are reviewed/updated on a 2-year cycle.

Maine EMS protocols are available via a free app for smartphones and other devices.  It can be found in the App Store (iOS) or Google Play (Android) as the "Maine EMS Protocol App" from Maine Emergency Medical Services.  Statewide protocols are no longer printed by Maine EMS but can be viewed, saved, and printed via the PDF link (below).

 

2025 EMS Protocols

The Maine EMS Medical Directions & Practices Board has begun the revision process for the 2025 EMS prehospital care protocols.  For info and schedule of webinars, please visit the MDPB Resources page.

Maine EMS 2023 Statewide Protocols

Maine EMS and the Medical Direction & Practices Board (MDPB) developed updated statewide EMS protocols that went into effect on January 31, 2024.  

• Maine EMS Protocol App: The protocol app is available free for all users for smartphones and tablets on the Apple Play Store (iOS Users) and Google Play Store (Android Users).  Current users will need to perform a manual update by users within their app on or after January 31, 2024.
• The MDPB has spent countless hours researching, drafting, and revising these EMS protocols.  In addition to monthly public meetings and volunteering many work hours, the MDPB held statewide public protocol discussion forums as well as protocol suggestion forms for submission directly to the MDPB.  We encourage you to be involved and meeting information can be found at the MDPB web page. 

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View the Maine EMS 2023 Protocols (PDF) (2/27/25) Note - this is an updated version with the following corrections:

1. Annex - OD Green: Updated K9 protocols
2. Grey 30-32: Updated regional Maine EMS, and MDPB information
3. Purple 5: The MAP formula was corrected from 1/2(systolic pressure minus diastolic pressure) to 1/3(systolic pressure minus diastolic pressure)
4. Red 15: #9.ii was corrected from mg/kg/min to mcg/kg/min
5. Minor punctuation and grammar changes that do not affect clinical care.
6. Please note: The page numbers on the bottom left of each page are accurate to the section color, but NOT to the document as a whole - this was a limitation of time and programming. 

• 2023 EMS Protocols FAQ (PDF) (2/29/24) Note: This document will be updated from time to time if additional info is needed

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Maine EMS 2023 EMS Protocol Update Education for all EMS clinicians.

Protocol update information was also sent to all Maine EMS licensed clinicians on November 7, 2023 to the email on file for your EMS license.  If you did not receive it, please check your spam/junk folder or log into your eLicensing account to ensure your email address is up to date.

Clinicians must complete the Maine EMS protocol update for their license level prior to using the Maine EMS protocols that went into effect on January 31, 2024.  All previous versions of Maine EMS protocols have sunset and are no longer valid.

Please note that per Maine EMS Rules, Chapter 5, §4, licensed Maine EMS clinicians must complete the most recent Maine EMS prehospital protocol update in order to perform emergency medical treatment. The following information outlines how to complete this.

All EMRs, EMTs, AEMTs, and Paramedics MUST complete this education

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MEMSEd Protocol Update

Maine EMS offered a variety of live in person and live online updates leading up to the protocol rollout. EMS clinicians who did not attend one of these sessions MUST complete the protocol update via MEMSEd, using their login information. This option is available 24/7.

Please note - group sessions via MEMSEd are not permitted.  

The MEMSEd protocol update course has been split into two separate courses, by level of licensure.  Courses take approximately 3 hours to complete.

• 2023 Maine EMS Protocol Update – EMR/EMT
  • AEMT/Paramedics should not complete this course
• 2023 Maine EMS Protocol Update – AEMT/Paramedic
  • All AEMTs and Paramedics must use this course.
  • This course also contains all of the information in the EMR/EMT course.
  • EMR/EMTs do not need to complete this course but are welcome to and will count as completion.

Clinicians will only receive CEH credit for ONE course.

Both courses are live and open for enrollment at this time. Links to the courses are provided near the middle of the MEMSEd home page.

Certificates of completion are issued by MEMSEd upon completion of the course. Maine EMS recommends clinicians download and save their certificates upon completion of the course.

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2023 Additional Protocol Resource Documents

• 2023 Change Summary Document (PDF) (12/7/23)
• 2023 EMS Protocols FAQ (PDF) (2/29/24) Note: This document will be updated from time to time if additional info is needed
• 2023 Formulary Update (coming soon)
• New Definitions - Purple Section (PDF) (12/7/23)
• Maine Child Safe Haven Law (PDF) (12/7/23)
• Maine Stroke Alliance Plavix Statement (PDF) (12/7/23)
• Suggested Additional CEH Topics for Training (PDF) (11/21/23)

2024 Operational K9 Protocols & Documents

• Operational Bulletin Operational K9 Protocols (PDF) (11/19/24)
• Maine EMS OpK9 2024 Protocols (PDF) (11/19/24)
• Vet After hours and 24 hour 7 day clinics (PDF) (11/19/24)

2023 White Papers

• Other New 2023 Protocol (Trauma Triage, Strangulation & Fever (PDF) (12/7/23)
• Bougie Use (PDF) (11/16/23)
• Dexamethasone Update (PDF) (11/16/23)
• Magnesium Sulfate and the Treatment of Eclampsia (PDF) (11/16/23)
• Naloxone Dispensation (PDF) (11/16/23)
• New England Donor Services Reporting (PDF) (11/16/23)
• Newborn Warmth Maintenance (PDF) (11/16/23)
• Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest (PDF) (11/16/23)
• Oxytocin (PDF) (11/16/23)
• Pediatric Cardiac Arrest and Pediatric Post Cardiac Arrest (PDF) (11/16/23)
• Posterior Circulation Stroke (PDF) (11/16/23)

All current and previous MDPB white papers can be found on the MDPB Resources page 

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