Emergency Medical Service field supervisors became statutory authorities pronounced by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health Decree on Emergency Medical Service. This activity is new and therefore there is no previous research made especially in Oulu University Hospital catchment area for highly specialized medical care.

The purpose of this study was to describe the opinions of EMS field supervisors on their responsibilities. Things to be clarified were the actualization of the Decree on Emergency Medical Service, effects of EMS field supervision on the quality of EMS, strain of work tasks and the differences between areas.

This bachelor thesis is a quantitative study. Our data collection method was an Internet based Webropol Survey. The research area included five hospital districts. Questionnaires were sent out to all EMS field supervisors in the catchment area. We received 29 answers from EMS field supervisors.

The results showed that EMS field supervisors work by the Decree on Emergency Medical Service. EMS field supervising makes the quality of EMS better. The EMS field supervisors’ work tasks set in the Decree on Emergency Medical Service was said to improve the quality of EMS the most. The most straining work task was to obtain a cohesive picture of the situation. There were differences in the results between the areas.

Based on the results EMS field supervisors should focus on the work tasks set by the Health Decree on Emergency Medical Service. Other work tasks should not disturb the above mentioned work tasks. Oulu Universities of Applied Sciences can utilize the results when improving the quality of the Degree Programme in Emergency Care and in paramedics’ updating education.