A tribute to Nancy Caroline, MD, & emergency care in the streets. Interview by Bryan E. Bledsoe and Mick J. Sanders.

EMS EDUCATION IN THE EARLY 1970S WAS like a ship without a captain. Programs throughout the country developed their own paramedic training curriculum and used nursing and medical books and articles. In 1979, the paramedic education process found direction with a novel textbook, Emergency Care in the Streets. Authored by Nancy L. Caroline, MD, this landmark EMS text finally gave paramedic instructors and students a book they could call their own. It covered EMS and was written by a physician who understood the topic. For longer than a decade, Emergency Care in the Streets was the only textbook available for paramedic training. Originally published by Little, Brown and Co., Boston, the textbook went through five editions. Today, the fifth edition remains available from Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins, Philadelphia. Caroline now lives in Israel, practices palliative medicine and is medical director for the Hospice of the Upper Galilee. She recently took time from her practice for a brief interview.