Education
The education and skills required of paramedics vary by state. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) designs and specifies a National Standard Curriculum for EMT training. Most paramedic education and certifying programs require that a student is at a minimum educated and trained to the National Standard Curriculum for a particular skill level. The National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians (NREMT) is a private, central certifying entity whose primary purpose is to maintain a national standard. NREMT also provides certification information for paramedics who relocate to another state.
Paramedic education programs can be as short as 8 months or as long as 4 years. An Associate's degree program is 2 years, often administered through a community college. Degree programs are an option, with two year Associate's degree programs being most common, although four year Bachelor's degree programs exist. Many paramedic programs are through Adult Career and Technical schools that provide a certificate of completion upon completion of the program. All programs must meet the current National Standard curriculum. The institutions offering such training vary greatly across the country in terms of programs and requirements, and each must be examined by the prospective student in terms of both content and requirements where the prospective paramedic hopes to practice. Regardless of education, all students must meet the same state requirements to take the certification exams, including the National Registry exams which consist of a psychomotor skills practical examination and the a Computer Based Testing (CBT). In addition, most locales require that paramedics attend ongoing refresher courses and continuing medical education to maintain their license or certification. In addition to state and national registry certifications, most paramedics are required to be certified in Pediatric Advanced Life Support, Pediatric Prehospital care or Pediatric Emergencies for the Prehospital Provider; Prehospital Trauma Life Support; International Trauma Life Support; and Advanced Cardiac Life Support. These additional requirements have education and certification from organizations such as the American Heart Association.
Read more about this topic: Paramedics In The United States
Famous quotes containing the word education:
“One of the greatest faults of the women of the present time is a silly fear of things, and one object of the education of girls should be to give them knowledge of what things are really dangerous.”
—Ellen Henrietta Swallow Richards (1842–1911)
“If you complain of neglect of education in sons, what shall I say with regard to daughters, who every day experience the want of it? With regard to the education of my own children, I find myself soon out of my depth, destitute and deficient in every part of education. I most sincerely wish ... that our new Constitution may be distinguished for encouraging learning and virtue. If we mean to have heroes, statesmen, and philosophers, we should have learned women.”
—Abigail Adams (1744–1818)
“Nature has taken more care than the fondest parent for the education and refinement of her children. Consider the silent influence which flowers exert, no less upon the ditcher in the meadow than the lady in the bower. When I walk in the woods, I am reminded that a wise purveyor has been there before me; my most delicate experience is typified there.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)