Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) - CMA Accredited Primary Care Paramedic
Program Overview
Canadian Medical Association - Primary Care Paramedic (6 year) Accredited
RATIONALE AND SCOPE OF COURSE
The Professional Medical Associates' Emergency Medical Technician Program has been specifically designed to address the
needs of rural ambulance personnel. Those completing this program
would be eligible for registration as Emergency Medical Technicians with the Alberta College of Paramedics.
The course is based as a completer program, so many of the components
previously addressed in our EMR course will be briefly reviewed
to ensure retention without constant repetition. The course also
includes the information required to cover the proposed scope
of practice for EMT personnel. This includes material presently
in Section 12(1) of the Health Disciplines Act, as well as the new Alberta Competency Profile from the Alberta College of Paramedics and the National Occupational Competency Profile of the Paramedic Association of Canada at the Primary Care Paramedic (PCP) level.
Those enrolling in the program must have completed the Emergency
Medical Responder program within the last two years, and must
be registered EMR practitioners. The focus of the completion program
is on the assessment of the patient - strategies to assess particular
portions of the body rather than rote memorization of phrases
and the ability to assimilate information. This has long been
communicated to us by field practitioners as a weakness of EMT
programs. Competency for entrants is assessed by completion of
a practical scenario at the EMR level, and the successful completion
of the selection examination.
OVERVIEW
The last few years has seen unprecedented changes in the fields
of health care and post-secondary education. In both areas, funding
has been reduced, and funds available must be used more efficiently
than ever before. Coupled with this, are new needs that are developing.
One of the most obvious is in the area of local hospital access.
Many of the smaller communities have had the number of acute beds
reduced, and this will be addressed, in part, by increasing the
availability of ambulance service in the community. EMR personnel
are not sufficient in some communities, which considering the
transport times, or even availability of an ambulance within a
short period of time. Shortcomings would be addressed by taking
current EMR students and providing them a completion program to
become EMT personnel, with their Section 12(1) skills. It was
the initial goal of Alberta Health to introduce a minimum level
of EMT throughout the province. Based on costs and logistics,
it was necessary to begin with the establishment of the EMR program.
This program represents the next logical step - as well as moving
toward attainment of the initial goal of the Alberta Government.
Currently, many of the EMT personnel trained are drawn to larger
centres and do not stay in their own communities. By taking EMR
personnel, and providing the education in their community, two
benefits are realized. First, more of the smaller communities
would be able to afford and provide EMT service; and second,
this target group is less likely to leave the community since
they have established businesses or occupations in the community.
GOAL
The goal of this course is to provide the EMT with the skills,
knowledge and confidence to appropriately manage various traumatic
and medical emergencies within the context of rural Alberta. The
course also offers the opportunity to become registered health
care practitioners as members of the Alberta College of Paramedics. The benefit for potential students is that they are
eligible for registration as an EMT, and can benefit from ongoing
continuing education. Provision of educational opportunities such
as EMT in the rural communities of Alberta will also address
many of the problems and concerns that may result from closures
of local emergency facilities. In addition, there will be an increase
in the frequency of inter-facility transfers and the need for
advanced skills of the EMT to appropriately and safely transfer
patients to higher levels of care.
DELIVERY METHOD
The program will be presented through a delivery model appropriate
to the needs of the organization. This may include lecture and
practical sessions, supplemental interactive multi-media presentations
and home-study and review packages. There exists the ability of
the program to be adapted based on the present medical training
of the local service in that EMT or EMT-P personnel within the
department could supplement the training and assist in providing
a readily accessible resource. Currently negotiations are ongoing
to increase our internet presence that would allow students to access
reference information and assignments via multi-media computer.
This would increase communication between instructors and students,
and allow for ongoing continuing education to maintain proficiency.
