About Acclerated EMT Training
People enroll in Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) training for a wide variety of reasons. Some wish to pursue a career working with an ambulance service, some seek their EMT license in order to improve their nursing or medical school applications and some people simply want the valuable first aid knowledge.
Other People Are Reading
-
What Is Covered
-
Since EMTs are part of the emergency medical system, they will often be the first people on the scene of an emergency. This means that they must be able to identify problems, stabilize and package patients and transport them to a definitive care facility, such as a hospital. This means that EMT training covers a wide variety of medical topics, including the patient assessment system, basic human anatomy and physiology, types of medical emergencies, types of trauma, and the proper way to treat these different problems.
Wilderness EMT training covers all of the same emergency medicine topics as a regular EMT as well as training to be a Wilderness First Responder, which addresses wilderness and backcountry medicine issues.
What Is Not Covered
-
EMT training does not teach you how to cure serious illnesses, fix broken or dislocated bones, stitch wounds closed or give intravenous therapy (IVs). Basic EMTs do not learn how to administer medications besides oxygen, although they may assist with some self-administered medications. More advanced EMTs, such as paramedics, may be trained to give more advanced medical care.
-
Course Length
-
EMT courses consist of at least 110 class hours (some states require more) and hours riding with an ambulance or in an ER setting. These hours are spread out over anywhere from four weeks to a year, depending on the course.
What to Expect from an Accelerated Course
-
In an accelerated EMT program you will cover all of the same information as in an extended course in four to six weeks. Due to the large volume of information that must be covered, you should expect an intense experience, similar to a college course compressed into this amount of time. Classes will generally last all day long, Monday through Friday. You will need weekends for studying and preparing for the following week. Do not expect to be able to devote much of your attention or time to other activities for the duration of the class.
Where to find accelerated EMT courses
-
There are a number of accelerated programs in the United States. Check with your state’s center of emergency medicine to find accredited programs in your state. Since different state requirements may not be the same, it’s important to check with the state you plan to practice in to make sure that your course will meet its EMT licensure requirements. Local fire departments are also a good place to check, since they often offer EMT courses.
Accelerated Wilderness EMT courses are available through Wilderness Medicine Institute (WMI), SOLO, Wilderness Medicine Society and other wilderness medicine companies.
-
