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Paramedics

Administer basic or advanced emergency medical care and assess injuries and illnesses. May administer medication intravenously, use equipment such as EKGs, or administer advanced life support to sick or injured individuals.

100,610 people do this job in the US. $60,600 a year.

now
4%

of the working time. Estimate.

Kinds of work
  • 38%
  • 2%
  • 59%
0%

Measured, from Anthropic's usage data (2025). Counts help on part of a task.

Half the desk work within reach
July 2027

On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.

Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030

0%25%50%75%100%2027202820292030NowDesk work: 38% of the time
Chosen to Ceiling: the share
DateNow
NowEnd of 2030

What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .

At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 4.4 h long four times in five.

How far this has come

With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 2%. Today's estimate: 4%.

0%5%10%2023202420252026GPT-4, March 2023: 0% within reachGPT-4 Turbo (Nov 2023), November 2023: 0% within reachGPT-4o, May 2024: 0% within reachClaude 3.5 Sonnet (June 2024), June 2024: 0% within reacho1-preview, September 2024: 0% within reachClaude 3.5 Sonnet (Oct 2024), October 2024: 0% within reacho1, December 2024: 0% within reachClaude 3.7 Sonnet, February 2025: 0% within reacho3, April 2025: 0% within reachGPT-5, August 2025: 0% within reachGemini 3 Pro, November 2025: 0% within reachClaude Opus 4.5, November 2025: 0% within reachGPT-5.2, December 2025: 0% within reachClaude Opus 4.6, February 2026: 0% within reachClaude Mythos Preview (early), April 2026: 2% within reachToday (estimate), September 2026: 4% within reach
Each step is a new best model measured by METR, four in five; the dashed end is today's estimate. Point at a dot for the model.

A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.

The tasks

Sorted by . 13 tasks from .

TaskKind
Attend training classes to maintain certification licensure, keep abreast of new developments in the field, or maintain existing knowledge.Done more than monthly by most who do it. 38%6.7 h1.7 h to 1.7 work days9%Half by Jul 2027
Administer first aid treatment or life support care to sick or injured persons in prehospital settings.Done several times a day by most who do it. 17%38 min13 min to 1.7 hStays with people
Coordinate work with other emergency medical team members or police or fire department personnel.Done several times a day by most who do it. 7%13 min4 min to 25 minStays with people
Observe, record, and report to physician the patient's condition or injury, the treatment provided, and reactions to drugs or treatment.Done several times a day by most who do it. 7%17 min8 min to 29 minStays with people
Comfort and reassure patients.Done several times a day by most who do it. 6%13 min4 min to 25 minStays with people
Assess nature and extent of illness or injury to establish and prioritize medical procedures.Done several times a day by most who do it. 5%13 min4 min to 25 minStays with people
Perform emergency invasive intervention before delivering patient to an acute care facility.Done several times a day by most who do it. 5%17 min8 min to 29 minStays with people
Operate equipment, such as electrocardiograms (EKGs), external defibrillators, or bag valve mask resuscitators, in advanced life support environments.Done daily by most who do it. 4%13 min4 min to 25 minStays with people
Coordinate with treatment center personnel to obtain patients' vital statistics and medical history, to determine the circumstances of the emergency, and to administer emergency treatment.Done several times a day by most who do it. 4%13 min7 min to 25 minStays with people
Administer drugs, orally or by injection, or perform intravenous procedures.Done daily by most who do it. 3%8 min3 min to 17 minStays with people
Instruct emergency medical response team about emergency interventions to ensure correct application of procedures.Done more than weekly by most who do it. 2%13 min4 min to 25 minStays with people
Perform emergency pharmacological interventions.Done daily by most who do it. 2%8 min4 min to 25 minStays with people

Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.

Jobs that share skills with this one

From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.

Where this job works

The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).

Where the most of these jobs are

The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).