Emergency Medical Technician Program
Course Information
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.