For patients who have serious traumatic or life-threatening injuries or for those who are immediately recognised as being seriously ill or potentially seriously injured, having high-level clinical care at the scene is vital if the complex nature of trauma-related pathophysiology and its early signs are to be identified (Little et al, 1995).

In addition, there is a larger proportion of patients who may have serious life- or limb-threatening injuries and require advanced analgesia or sedation to ease their suffering. This calls for the role of the air and land ambulance services to be further developed in Nigeria. EAMS (Nigeria) will ensure that responses to incidents are provided by clinical staff with the right training to enable them to respond appropriately.