EMT-B courses. How long did it take you?

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Stingray91

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Hey guys! I've been lurking on here for a bit & finally thought to post something. ^_^
I know a certain amount of hours have to be done, but some schools take longer than others. I start in June and it's Monday - Thursday from 8am - 2pm for 3 months. Just curious, when you went through the EMT-B classes, how many months did it take to complete the program?
 
Anjel

Anjel

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Stingray91 said:
Hey guys! I've been lurking on here for a bit & finally thought to post something. ^_^
I know a certain amount of hours have to be done, but some schools take longer than others. I start in June and it's Monday - Thursday from 8am - 2pm for 3 months. Just curious, when you went through the EMT-B classes, how many months did it take to complete the program?
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mine was 3.5 months ish. And was Tues. through Thurs from 6-10 plus 60 hours of clinicals thrown in.
 
lampnyter

lampnyter

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Mine was from the end of May to mid August. 3-4 days a week.
 
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DesertMedic66

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Every Friday for 18 weeks from 0900-1850. With 3 extra classes on the weekend.
 
Shishkabob

Shishkabob

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2 days a week, 4 hours a night, from the time the semester started in August till it ended in December, not counting the clinical and ambulance time.
 
NREMTroe

NREMTroe

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Linuss said:
2 days a week, 4 hours a night, from the time the semester started in August till it ended in December, not counting the clinical and ambulance time.
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Same with mine.. I think it came out to like 150-160ish hours
 
Tommerag

Tommerag

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Mine was 3 months if i remember correctly, maybe a little longer.
 
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Aprz

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TL;DR read in bold.

The program I started in was a two part program. You were required to take Emergency Responder (certifies you in ECSI First Responder and AHA CPR for Healthcare Provider) which was every Tuesday night 6:00 PM - 10:00 PM for a quarter (~68 hours). The following quarter, you could take EMT which was only Wednesday mornings and afternoon 8:30 AM - 12:30 PM 1:30 PM - 5:30 PM for a quarter. We'd also have one Saturday session that was the same time, one 8 hour shift in a local ER, and one 12 hour shift in a BLS or ALS rig with the local ambulance company. All together, the EMT class would add up to ~152 hours (w/o the clinical portion, ~172 hours w/ the clinical time included). You had to have at minimum 5 patient contact. With both classes combined, it was ~220 hours (w/o clinical, ~240 w/ clinical), and it's a two quarter program. The first portion, Emergency Response, can be challenged if you have proof of equivalent training or higher. If you took the entire program, it would take about 6-8 months (8 cause there is a break in between quarters) I believe.

I ended up taking the first portion of the class. Being a new student, I got last dibs at signing up for EMT so I had to try to add in. I signed up for an alternative program about ~30 miles away from me in a whole nother county just in case. After attending the program I originally wanted to be in for four weeks (after four weeks, you cannot add in), the one I mentioned above, I was able to add in, but a classmate that took Emergency Response with me could not, she was next in line to add in, and so I gave up my seat to her in agreement that I could show up to class to experience both worlds. I attended the above program, but did not participate in written or skill tests, I did not get a grade, and would not be elgible to take the national registry.

The alternative program I took was a quarter long, the only prereq was AHA CPR for Healthcare Provider. It was also significantly shorter than the program I mentioned above, it was only ~118 hours, however, on my actual certicate, they put down 110 hours, which is the bare minimum for California. We met every Friday and Saturday 9:15 AM - 2:55 PM. On Fridays, we did lecture. On Saturdays, the instructors would demonstrate skills and have us practice it. There was only one 12 hour clinical on an ALS rig. If you completed the program, it would take about 3 months.

Since I am sure you guys are interested in the difference between the two programs, I'd say that the first program was significantly smarter, but struggled with skills because they have a problem with unifying skills (still). Unfortunately, the students slowed down, slack off real bad, and learned less than what they could have, and retained less because it's not necessary for them to know it to pass the class. Just because the skills aren't unified, competent students may have failed the class because of skills because they tested with a different proctor.

For example, during their midterm, one proctor failed a student for forgeting get lung sounds (not a critical criteria on their skills sheet by the way) on a chest pain patient while another proctor passed a student who forgot to get lung sounds on a patient who was in respiratory distress. When I pointed it out the proctor, he talked with the director of the program and told him that he believes the student is competent so they passed the other student while the other did not get to continue. After pushing it more, they said the other one overall score is okay while the one they failed was barely making it.

Last week, they took their written final for the first class (Emergency Response), and after the standard was lowered from needing a 75% to pass the class to 70%, one student got 68%. His overall score was okay so the instructor gave him an extra 2% to continue on to EMT.

In both classes, I constantly have to tell students to put away their phone. One student yelled at me after I told him to put it away twice. He's still in the class, and if he passes the skill test on Wednesday, he'll pass the class. The discipline in both classes is horrible.

The other program nailed unifying skills, and you could clap your hands and they'd go through the algorithms taught in that class flawlessly, but if you asked a student what COPD was, they'd probably reply, "!@#$ if I know; I am not a doctor!" They would consider any deviation wrong. I believe I told ya guys the story about a student getting really mad at me when I told him that you don't need to remove one of the one-way valves for the NRB (in the program, they taught students to remove it "just in case in malfunctions so the patient can breath"), saying he wanted to punch me in face, that I am !@#$ing idiot. I was constantly told by other students "I hope my family never gets you as their EMT". The nice thing about this program was there was an optional two classes where you could be introduced to anatomy, physiology, medical terminology, phlebotomy, EKGs, pharmacology, injections, and charting. This supplemental course was originally intended for EMT students who wanted to become an ER tech and I believe I was told that at one point, it would count for something in California until they raised the standards with Phlebotomy. If you took a nutritional class, you could challenge the medical assisting classes at the school too after taking some sort of competency test, or you could look for an externship to get a phlebotomy cert.

</rant><rant>... :D
 
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Stingray91

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Nice, I love the variety for the schedules.
Aprz,
the A&P, med terms, phlebotomy, EKGs, and injections made me smile. I just finished up my medical assistant classes with my externship. I love the clinicals. I figured with the EMT & MA, I can get in the ER. I can only study, hope, and network.:blush:
 
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Aprz

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Don't forget charting!
 
Martyn

Martyn

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January thru to May, 5 months - 0930-1800 initially for 3 days a week (mon, weds and fri) then down to 2 days a week (mon and fri) equates to something like 600+ hours classroom then on top we had to do 110 hours ambulance rides and 10 hours ER rotation. And people expect to be at the same standard after an 8 week course? Hmmm....:huh:
 
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Strap

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10 weeks, 3 nights/week, 5PM-10PM. Plus one Saturday 9-5 for EVOC. Plus 5 clinical shifts.
 
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jccilm

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I'm in a 6 week course. It calls for 180 didactic hours of which 40-48 are in the class, which is pretty much skills and scenarios. So the balance of the course is online including lectures, tests, and homework.
 
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sniperdown

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emt-b

mine took a couple months, 4 hours and twice a week sometimes three times and saturdays was 8 hours.. the shorter they get the more they cram into your head and harder it is to remember, and the longer ones you get more hands on, and learn more but its just more time consuming
 
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