The Emergency Medical Science and Paramedic profession has rigorous demands and is often a harsh environment to work.
Being a paramedic is both challenging and rewarding. The need for clinicians to critically think, problem solve, and communicate demonstrating compassion for the patient, respect for other healthcare providers, and integrity as a healthcare professional. Paramedics are consistently acquiring new skills, gaining autonomy to function as an advanced care practitioner and making decisions in the field. EMS is reshaping the industry and EMS is becoming more organized on the local, state and national level. The EMS industry is following through on a ten year plan called the EMS agenda for the future along with the EMS education agenda for the future looking at where EMS has come from and what EMS is doing now, and where EMS id headed. There is now a US EMS Administration recognized by the federal government and all organizations connected to EMS.
Emergency Medical Services includes Emergency Medical Dispatchers, Medical Responders, Basic EMT, EMT-Intermediate, and Paramedic. The modern EMS system has now been around for 40 years and is well established as a healthcare profession. EMS is not what it used to be and there is no such job title as an ambulance driver.
The Department for EMS Education believes in providing professional Emergency Medical Services education by weaving contextual, integrative, and adaptive competence into the conceptual and technical components of the program. In addition, the Department for EMS Education concentrates on academic skills to improve critical thinking and problem solving and prepares the student for lifelong learning and developing mastery in the EMS profession. Upon completion of the EMS education program, the expectation is that the graduate possesses the skills, knowledge, and attitudes to enter the workforce. The safety of the public greatly depends on the competence of all health care providers.
The Emergency Medical Services profession believes in fostering professional identity, ethical standards, scholarly concern for improvement, motivation for continued learning, and career marketability. The Department for EMS Education strives to achieve excellence in EMS education through Integrity, Respect and Compassion. The Emergency Medical Science curriculum is designed to prepare graduates to enter the workforce as paramedics. Additionally, the program can provide an Associate Degree for individuals desiring an opportunity for career enhancement.
The course of study provides the student an opportunity to acquire basic and advanced life support knowledge and skills by utilizing classroom instruction, practical laboratory sessions, hospital clinical experience and field internships with emergency medical service agencies.
Students progressing successfully through the program may be eligible to apply for both state and national certification exams. Employment opportunities include ambulance services, fire and rescue agencies, air medical services, specialty areas of hospitals, industry, educational institutions and government agencies.
To learn more about Emergency Medical Science, go to Gaston College - Department for EMS Education.
Last updated: July 2006