EMS Paramedic School Information
A paramedic is the highest level of emergency medical technician, or EMT. While becoming an EMT only requires basic certification, a paramedic requires additional schooling and training.
Getting into a paramedic program
In order to gain entrance into a Paramedic Training Program or school, one must first have basic EMT certification. In some programs it is not necessary to have EMT experience, but while some EMTs immediately pursue their paramedic certification after completing their basic EMT training, programs often prefer paramedic program candidates with some field experience. Some programs offer “points” for EMTs who have served in the field and have hands-on experience to make acceptance into the paramedic program easier.
Paramedic Coursework
The certification to become a paramedic is known as an EMT-P (as opposed to the basic level of EMT certification, called EMT-B), and in some states is known as EMT-3 or EMT-4. By comparison, an EMT-B receives about 150 hours of training; a paramedic receives up to 1,800 hours of training.
Paramedics start their advanced training back in the classroom, with more anatomy and physiology courses than a standard EMT. While paramedic programs vary from state-to-state, all paramedic programs include a clinical training component in a hospital setting where paramedics learn more advanced procedures than a basic EMT, such as inserting an IV and giving injections. Depending upon the state, paramedics are also trained to administer up to 40 different medications, shock hearts back into beating, decompress collapsed lungs, insert breathing tubes, and triage multiple patients.
Unlike EMTs, paramedics also train in advanced life support courses. These courses include classroom and clinical training for severe emergencies, such as victims of fires, severe adult and pediatric trauma, and severe cardiac problems. All paramedic training programs include these advanced life support courses as well.
Paramedic Program Examples – What to Expect
Normally paramedic programs, including both classroom work and field or clinical work, are 8 – 9 months and can take up to a year and a half. Here’s a look at two such programs.
At the University of Wisconsin’s paramedic program, candidates begin with eighteen weeks of classroom and clinical training. For example, students attend obstetrics classes, then follow-up these classes with hands-on experience in a clinical setting; then they are back in the classroom again for emergency room courses, then follow these up with ER training in the clinical setting. After these eighteen weeks, students spend 10 – 12 weeks shadowing paramedics in the field in an ambulance or other emergency vehicle. Some states, such as Massachusetts, include similar field internships as part of paramedic certification requirements.
The Center for Emergency Medicine of Western Pennsylvania is a nine month paramedic program with one semester from August through December and a second from January through May. After spending time first in the lecture hall, students get field training both in ambulances and MedEvac helicopters operating out of Pittsburgh. They also complete clinical training at several different hospitals, including a children’s hospital, a women’s hospital, general hospitals, and a university hospital.
After completing coursework, clinical work, and field internships, the paramedic student is ready to take the state’s board exam to become a certified paramedic.
