Jaff,
To be a Paramedic now you pretty much have to do a Degree, then follow up with an internship. There used to be an internal Diploma but that is now gone from SAAS and most other services.
So you do 3 years at uni (Paramedic degree, there about 8 in Aust), then an internship of 1-2 years.
With SAAS they now have an RSDP (Regional Sponsored Degree Program) in which people from ATS and Volunteer apply and then (if get in) do the Flinders degree externally while working with SAAS full time. This takes about 5 years to complete the Degree and Paramedic Qualification.
The ICP course is 12 months long and you must be a Paramedic to apply. They have a higher skill set and are more autononomus. The course I think is about to change within the next 2 years, heard rumors, but not sure what going on.
An SOT, which stands for Special Operations and Tactics Paramedic (Referred to as a Special Operantions Team Paramedic) is an ICP who has done Aeromedical and rescue training, such as verticle etc. There guidelines are same as an ICP, they just have specilist training and a whole lot of experience.
As for treatment options, difficult to discuss on line, but an ICP has more options and additional skills like intubation (airway), pacing (increasing heart rate), cardioversion and some more drugs. A Paramedic has more than an ATS (transfer services) and volly, inculding cannulation, IV morphine, IV adrenaline (cardiac arrest), fluid for trauma etc.
at the end of the day though, no matter who you are and what whiz bang skills and drugs you can use, the basics still apply.
Am sure the more experience ambo's like boredmatrix can add or fix if I missed something.
Hope this sheds some light.