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| a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison. |
| a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. |
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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paramedic
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paramedic par·a·med·ic (pār'ə-měd'ĭk)
n.
A person who is trained to give emergency medical treatment or assist medical professionals.
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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paramedics
health-care workers who provide clinical services to patients under the supervision of a physician. The term generally encompasses nurses, therapists, technicians, and other ancillary personnel involved in medical care but is frequently applied specifically to highly trained persons who share with physicians the direct responsibility for patient care. This category includes nurse practitioners, physician's assistants, and emergency medical technicians. These paramedical workers perform routine diagnostic procedures, such as the taking of blood samples, and therapeutic procedures, such as administering injections or suturing wounds; they also relieve physicians of making routine health assessments and taking medical histories. Paramedical training generally prepares individuals to fill specific health-care roles and is considerably less comprehensive than the education required of physicians.
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