This is how I view BLS EMT in LA county: can be explained in 3 bullets:
1.Oxygen; along with BLS airway adjuncts, and bagging with anything (Als airway, trach tube, stoma, and mouth) with an "ambu" bag
2. Immobilization devices/splints: such as c-collar/backboard/pizza box cut-outs, traction splints
3. Transport- anyone with low risk fluids such as NaCl/ D5W
Everything else I feel that fire "ems" thinks EMTs are to dumb to do such as:
Pulse ox (never supported by ambo company), AED (only fire), and BGL (is way to complex for EMTs to do, you must have a paramedic precision to push the auto-prick device, and a near nurse precession to place a droplet of blood on the glucometer test strip), any meds (exept for glucose, if you'd call it a medication, I can give a Pepsi to a pt that will have a similar effect- which by the way, oral glucose goes grate in coffee)