Volunteers regularly attend medical emergencies and routine cases in their local community. Other duties include writing reports, maintaining ambulances and medical equipment, and keeping stations running smoothly. More senior volunteers often assist with training of newer members and some assist with volunteer recruitment and organising rosters.

Cases attended by volunteers include medical emergencies, but most of the time cases are for less serious medical conditions or minor injuries. All volunteers are given appropriate training to provide basic care at emergencies of all types, whether they are serious car crashes, heart attacks, breathing problems or other life-threatening events. They are also trained to assist people with less serious conditions like headaches, hypothermia, heat-related illnesses or gastrointestinal problems through to cuts, sprains and other minor injuries.



Volunteers are dispatched on cases by the Tasmanian Ambulance Service's Communications Centre in Hobart, exactly the same way as city crews are. In some locations a "crew" is a paid paramedic and a volunteer; in most smaller rural communities a crew is two volunteers, with paramedic backup in a separate vehicle if required. In remote locations such as Flinders Island and King Island, volunteers work without paramedic backup, instead working with local hospital medical staff and the Royal Flying Doctor Service when required.

On the way to a case, a volunteer may be driving the ambulance or sitting in the passenger seat giving directions or starting the case report. On arrival they may set up equipment, provide treatment in accordance with Tasmanian Ambulance Service protocols, take notes and fill out the case report. If a patient requires transport to a hospital or other medical facility, a volunteer ambulance officer may help load the patient onto a stretcher and into the ambulance, and then drive to the hospital or sit in the back with the patient and continue to provide care. On arrival at hospital, the volunteer may be required to provide a brief summary of the case (called the "hand over") to a nurse or doctor.

Once a case is complete, volunteers may be involved in checking equipment and supplies, restocking kits where necessary, and cleaning the ambulance in preparation for the next case.

While not responding to cases, and depending on the location, some volunteers are able to go about their regular lives at home or in their community, providing they are not more than a few minutes from the station. In larger communities, or when they live out of town, volunteers on duty wait at the station for the duration of each assigned shift.

Volunteer ambulance officers work in accordance with strict guidelines and protocols, and receive considerable training in manual handling, infection prevention and other Occupational Health & Safety issues. Full personal protective euipment (PPE) and other safety equipment is provided.