Kicking It Up A Notch
There has been a lot of discussion about EMS education in the past year. The release of the EMS Education Standards, recent continuing education scandals and the upcoming accreditation deadline for paramedic programs have all brought EMS education to the forefront of the discussion about the future of EMS. One thing is clear. It is time for EMS Educators to kick it up a notch. Teaching the bare minimum number of didactic hours using the unmodified publisher provided materials just isn’t going to cut it any more. It’s time that we learned how to develop our own curriculum and teach more information than is absolutely required to pass the test.
This is going to require a lot more work on the front end but it will pay dividends in the long run. If we as educators do our part, our students will either rise to the challenge or self select out of our profession. Better teaching will lead to less remediation, which will make our jobs much easier in he long run. Most importantly, our students will graduate well prepared for the challenges they will face in their EMS careers.
I started this blog because I am trying to kick things up a notch in my program. I hope to organize my thoughts and get some feedback.
One thing I know for certain, this is a great time to be an EMS educator!
Kicking it one notch is an Associates Degree., Kicking it up two notches is a Bachelors in Science or Health. Anything less is an admirable improvement on a poor system. EMS is not a trade, yet it will never be a profession until we require a College degree.
I really enjoy your posts.