Distance/hybrid Paramedic programs

[TimePenguin]

Curious if anyone has experience with and specific insight into the quality of distance/hybrid paramedic programs? (Either you went through one or work with someone who does--not just looking for general philosophy on online education here.) So far I've looked at NMETC out of Massachusetts, PERCOM in TX and Colorado Mountain College. The distance/evening format works much better with my day job than full-time school, so I'm definitely entertaining the idea. I suppose my biggest concerns are whether you get sufficient hands-on training in the process, and job potential coming out of one of these programs.

I'd be entering with about 2 years of experience on ambulance as an EMT-B in both BLS and ALS companies. I have some connections with emergency physicians as far as lining up my clinicals (and possibly extra practice time). I teach Wilderness FA and FR level courses, and will have assisted with one or two NREMT-B level courses by the time I enroll. I have a BS in Biomedical Engineering and graduate work broadly covering the same, A&P, neuroscience and biochemistry. So I'm pretty sure I'll be fine with the book learning side of the equation, but fully acknowledge that in EMS absolutely nothing is a substitute for good hands-on experience.

Any thoughts, comments, concerns, anecdotes and recommendations are greatly appreciated!

 

[Obstructions]

I'm currently taking my paramedic through PERCOM. PM me for details.

 

[TimePenguin]

Obstructions, thanks for replying to my post! Evidently I can't PM anyone yet since this is my first post (and you need 5). Hopefully you can PM me instead? If not, how far along are you in the PERCOM program? What kind of background did you have before starting your medic studies?

Cheers,
Chris

 

[TimePenguin]

@ Obstructions

Obstructions, thanks again for your thorough reply! Unfortunately STILL can't private message thanks to the completely counter-productive policy they have on it. Admins if you're screening take note...if you're trying to prevent spam then you shouldn't REQUIRE new members to spam the forums in order to send an otherwise completely legitimate PM! Especially when the PM thread was initiated by another user!!

Anyway, Obstructions, following up on your reply...PERCOM let me know too that if you want to do your rotations and internship outside of TX that it is 100% on you to set up the hospitals and ambulance service. I was wondering how much effort it actually took you to locate places willing to work with you/PERCOM, and once you had the verbal agreement if there was a mountain of paperwork or any last-minute resistance from either side of the partnership? Other than that, very helpful reply!

Cheers,
Chris

 

[MMiz]

Obstructions, thanks again for your thorough reply! Unfortunately STILL can't private message thanks to the completely counter-productive policy they have on it. Admins if you're screening take note...if you're trying to prevent spam then you shouldn't REQUIRE new members to spam the forums in order to send an otherwise completely legitimate PM! Especially when the PM thread was initiated by another user!!

Anyway, Obstructions, following up on your reply...PERCOM let me know too that if you want to do your rotations and internship outside of TX that it is 100% on you to set up the hospitals and ambulance service. I was wondering how much effort it actually took you to locate places willing to work with you/PERCOM, and once you had the verbal agreement if there was a mountain of paperwork or any last-minute resistance from either side of the partnership? Other than that, very helpful reply!

Cheers,
Chris

Welcome to EMTLife!

As you've noted, we require members to have five posts in the community prior to being able to PM other users to prevent spam.

You're welcome to become a premium member to bypass that requirement or make a few more posts and wait 15 minutes or so to access the PM feature.

Better yet, keep as much as your conversation in the public so that others may benefit from your discussion. That's what EMTLife is all about.

 

[Rialaigh]

Lenoir Community College in Kinston, NC runs a distance program.

I am currently in their academy that requires 10 weekends of on campus time. They also have a distance program that I believe is two 5 day stints on campus. I can tell you that at Lenoir you will not pass the program unless you know what you are doing, they will not give you a break and just pass you. We started my class with 28 in Oct. (we finish in June) and we are down to 4 from our class. We got combined with another class 3 weeks ago and this weekend when we went we were down to a combined total of 4 from our class and 2 from the other (roughly 6 out of 50 remaining). You have to want it, you have to study, and you have to be ready to do 500 hours of clinical time in a 4-5 month time period.

 

[Obstructions]

Obstructions, thanks again for your thorough reply! Unfortunately STILL can't private message thanks to the completely counter-productive policy they have on it. Admins if you're screening take note...if you're trying to prevent spam then you shouldn't REQUIRE new members to spam the forums in order to send an otherwise completely legitimate PM! Especially when the PM thread was initiated by another user!!

Anyway, Obstructions, following up on your reply...PERCOM let me know too that if you want to do your rotations and internship outside of TX that it is 100% on you to set up the hospitals and ambulance service. I was wondering how much effort it actually took you to locate places willing to work with you/PERCOM, and once you had the verbal agreement if there was a mountain of paperwork or any last-minute resistance from either side of the partnership? Other than that, very helpful reply!

Cheers,
Chris

Mehh...not really. I mean I've volunteered at the hospital I'm doing my rotations at, so I didn't really have that great of an "in" there. I think the main thing was that I was local, which is the most important part.

Doing EMS clinicals up in Minneapolis however was the hardest part, since I'm about 4 hours from them. However my teacher knew the general director of a great service in there, so he helped me get onboard there, probably wouldn't have been able to if he wasn't involved.

As for getting the contract signed, the hardest part is just finding the right person to talk to haha. And start that process very early. It takes FOREVER to get all the paperwork and stuff on their end through and ready. I started working on the contract with the hospital in September, and they signed the contract last week. So start early! It's mainly just a communication issue on what you need and what they can give.

I'd recommend it.

 

[PotatoMedic]

Do you know if they are going to become accredited? currently as it stands, from what I can see, students will not be able to get their national registry.

 

[TimePenguin]

From what I have gathered so far, PERCOM and Colorado Mountain College are both accredited under the new NREMT guidelines already. NMETC has written the Initial Self Study Report and are awaiting their CoAEMSP review. They are going to hold off on any more admissions until they do get NREMT/CoAEMSP accreditation for their program.

 

[Obstructions]

Do you know if they are going to become accredited? currently as it stands, from what I can see, students will not be able to get their national registry.

PERCOM is currently accredited, and to my knowledge the only distance online program to do so.

 

[PotatoMedic]

PERCOM is currently accredited, and to my knowledge the only distance online program to do so.

Them and EMS Academy are accredited. Sadly I don't have 10k plus travel to drop on percom.

How do you like the program so far?

 

[TimePenguin]

Superfluous post to get to five, andddd....

 

[TimePenguin]

Them and EMS Academy are accredited. Sadly I don't have 10k plus travel to drop on percom.

How do you like the program so far?

Real post:

PERCOM is currently accredited, and to my knowledge the only distance online program to do so.

For posterity, CoAEMSP accreditation can be checked here: http://www.caahep.org/Find-An-Accredited-Program/

Currently, only PERCOM and National EMS Academy in Lafayette, LA are listed as accredited distance programs. Colorado Mountain College is accredited via their brick-and-mortar program in Edwards, CO. Lenoir CC (mentioned by Rialaigh) has their Letter of Review, but not full accreditation yet. NMETC is still waiting on the LOR.

Glad this topic is generating some real interest! =)

 

[Obstructions]

Them and EMS Academy are accredited. Sadly I don't have 10k plus travel to drop on percom.

How do you like the program so far?

Great. Education is amazing. Very in depth and detailed. My instructor is a former lawyer turned EMS junkie, so he has a great view on the medicolegal sides of EMS and medicine.

Lots of papers and lots of research. Which is what I like.

 

[wanderingmedic]

Them and EMS Academy are accredited. Sadly I don't have 10k plus travel to drop on percom.

How do you like the program so far?

I am doing PERCOM as well. I would say that you could probably do it for under 10k. Actually, probably fairly easily. I did not budget that much, but it probably depends on where you live. Because I'm traveling there from AZ, I have the advantage of just being able to drive so I can have my car (saves on car rental). I am also doing all of my clinicals in one 45 day block. Here was my math:

Course Tuition: $5,600
Lodging: ~$200 a week at extended stay America 7 weeks = $1,400
Food: ~$75 a week = $525
Gas: $800
Incidentals: $500

Total: $8,825

 

[PotatoMedic]

so are you doing clinicals m-f or 45 consecutive days?

 

[JamesTTU13]

Can you do your skills on the weekends? And can you do your clinicals with your agency/hospital? I have tried calling them and no answer. Sent an email today. Hopefully I'll hear back soon.

 

[Evan]

Crowder College

Crowder College in Missouri has a CoAEMSP NREMT approved hybrid program. The online portion runs 27 weeks which is followed by two weeks of skills training in Missouri and up to 12 weeks of internships. So you on,y have to be in Missouri for three months.

 

[wailungisme]

Bro did you have to find your own internship? how did that work out?

 

[Evan]

Crowder College arranges all the interships