Education

Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS)

The American Heart Association Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS) course trains healthcare providers that have clinical responsibilities in critical care areas to recognize cardiac emergencies and provide advanced life support interventions.

ACLS emphasizes the importance of basic life support for patient survival including the integration of effective basic life support with advanced cardiovascular life support interventions and the importance of effective team interaction and communication during resuscitation.

ACLS is based on simulated clinical scenarios that encourage active, hands-on participation through learning stations where students will practice essential skills individually, as part of a team, and as team leader. Realistic simulations reinforce the following key concepts: proficiency in basic life support care; recognizing and initiating early management of peri-arrest conditions; managing cardiac arrest; identifying and treating ischemic chest pain and acute coronary syndromes; recognizing other life-threatening clinical situations (such as stroke) and providing initial care; ACLS algorithms; and effective resuscitation team dynamics.

Advanced Medical Life Support (AMLS)

Duration: 16 hours-Two Days Traditional or One day Hybrid delivery

Advanced Medical Life Support (AMLS) is the gold standard of education for emergency medical assessment and treatment. Endorsed by the National Association of EMS Physicians, AMLS emphasizes the use of the AMLS Assessment Pathway, a systematic tool for assessing and managing common medical conditions with urgent accuracy.

Students learn to recognize and manage common medical crises through realistic case-based scenarios that challenge students to apply their knowledge to highly critical patients.  The course emphasizes the use of scene size-up, history, interactive group discussion on potential treatment strategies, and physical exam to systematically rule out and consider possibilities and probabilities in treating patients’ medical crises. 

Topics include:

• Respiratory disorders
• Cardiovascular disorders
• Shock
• Altered mental status
• Neurological disorders
• Endocrine/Metabolic disorders
• Environmental emergencies
• Infectious disease
• Abdominal disorders
• Toxicological emergencies
• Exposure to hazardous materials

AMLS is appropriate for EMTs, paramedics, nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurse anesthetists and physicians. AMLS is accredited by CAPCE and recognized by NREMT.

Certified Flight Paramedic Test Readiness & Review

This is an approved course sanctioned by the International Board of Specialty Certification. 

Content Outline

CPR & First Aid 

The American Heart Association Heartsaver First Aid with CPR/AED course teaches participants to recognize sudden illnesses, treat serious injury, and how to perform the lifesaving skills of CPR for adults, children, and infants with the use of an Automated External Defibrillator (AED). Successful completion of this course results in an American Heart Association Heartsaver First Aid CPR AED certification card which is valid for two years. Course topics include:

*Medical emergencies including allergic reactions, heart attacks, stroke, seizures, and diabetes

*Injury management including bites and stings, bleeding control, and splinting

*Environmental emergencies such as heat stroke and hypothermia

*Relief of choking

*CPR AED for adults, children, and infants

Emergency Pediatric Care (EPC)

The Emergency Pediatric Care (EPC) course focuses on critical pediatric physiology, illnesses, injuries and interventions to help EMS practitioners provide the best treatment for sick and injured children in the field.  The course stresses critical thinking skills to help practitioners make the best decisions for their young patients.

Topics covered include:

• The pathophysiology of the most common critical pediatric emergency issues, and critical thinking skills to help practitioners make the best decisions for their patients.
• Application of the Pediatric Assessment Triangle (PAT), a tool to help EMS practitioners rapidly and accurately assess pediatric patients.
• The importance of family-centered care.
• Understanding and communicating with children.
• Airway management, breathing and oxygenation.
• Cardiac emergencies.
• Recognizing child abuse and neglect.
• Hypoperfusion and shock.
• Newborn resuscitation.

EPC is appropriate for EMTs, paramedics, emergency medical responders, nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and physicians. EPC is accredited by CAPCE and recognized by NREMT.

Geriatric Education for EMS (GEMS)

GEMS provides EMS practitioners at all levels with the skills and knowledge to address the unique medical, social, environmental and communications challenges of older adults. Developed by NAEMT, in partnership with the American Geriatrics Society, GEMS empowers EMS practitioners to help improve medical outcomes and quality of life for geriatric patients. 

GEMS features case-based lectures, live action video, hands-on skill stations, simulation and small group scenarios to fully engage students in the learning experience. GEMS covers the following topics:

• Changes with age
• Assessment of older adults
• Pharmacology and medication toxicity
• Psycho-social emergencies
• Elder abuse
• End-of-life care issues
• Cardiovascular and respiratory emergencies
• Trauma
• Neurological emergencies and altered mental status
• Mobile integrated healthcare
• Special considerations for older adults in disaster response
• Skin and wound care
• Medical devices frequently used by older adults

Two GEMS courses are offered - a core and advanced course.  They may be offered separately or sequentially.  Both courses are appropriate for EMTs, paramedics, emergency medical responders, nurses, physician assistants and physicians. GEMS is accredited by CAPCE and recognized by NREMT.

NAEMT EMS Safety

NAEMT’s EMS Safety course teaches students how to protect themselves and their patients while on the job. It promotes a culture of safety and helps reduce the number of on-the-job fatalities and injuries. EMS Safety is the only national, comprehensive safety course for EMS practitioners. Its interactive format features real-life case studies and compelling discussions on current safety issues, and provides participants with a forum to share their own experiences. Critical thinking stations help build participants’ risk assessment and decision-making skills.

Participants are taught:

• To identify and manage the hazards that can appear during daily tasks, from offensive drivers to violent encounters to chronic stress.
• Practical strategies that they can apply in the field, from situational awareness to defensive driving to verbal deflection.
• How to strengthen their resiliency skills in order to combat both chronic and critical incident stress.

Topics covered include:

• Applying crew resource management in EMS.
• Utilizing situational awareness and defensive driving for safe emergency vehicle operations.
• Employing multi-agency pre-planning, vehicle and practitioner visibility techniques, and defensive staging practices at roadside incidents.
• Utilizing lift assist teams, lifting and moving equipment, and behavioral controls to protect both EMS practitioners and patients from injury.
• Employing situational awareness to continually assess for the potential of violence on the scene and verbal and physical techniques to deescalate potential threats.
• Practicing infection and contagion control to protect both EMS practitioners and patients from emerging threats.
• Strengthening resiliency skills to help EMS practitioners cope with daily and critical incident stress.
• Ensuring personal readiness for the daily challenges and hazards of working in the field through optimal personal health.

EMS Safety is offered as an 8-hour classroom course and is appropriate for all levels of EMS practitioners, other medical professionals providing prehospital patient care, and EMS supervisors and administrators. Students who successfully complete the course receive a certificate of completion and a wallet card good for 4 years. EMS Safety is accredited by CAPCE and recognized by NREMT.

Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS)

The AHA’s PALS Course has been updated to reflect science in the 2015 AHA Guidelines Update for CPR and ECC. This classroom, Instructor-led course uses a series of videos and simulated pediatric emergencies to reinforce the important concepts of a systematic approach to pediatric assessment, basic life support, PALS treatment algorithms, effective resuscitation, and team dynamics. The goal of the PALS Course is to improve the quality of care provided to seriously ill or injured children, resulting in improved outcomes.

Features:

• Classroom-based courses work well for learners who prefer group interaction and instructor feedback while learning
• Course includes realistic, clinical scenarios that encourage active participation – delivered through actual pediatric patient videos and lifelike simulations
• Course is comprehensive and includes our systematic approach to assess and treat pediatric patients in emergency situations
• Course uses a hands-on class format to reinforce skills proficiency
• Co-branded with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)

Trauma Nursing Core Course (TNCC)

This course taught by qualified emergency nurses, delivers the knowledge, critical thinking skills and hands-on training needed to keep trauma patients safe.  The overall course objective is to improve trauma patient outcomes by providing nurses with foundational trauma knowledge, skills, and a systematic Trauma Nursing Process to guide trauma patient care.

After taking TNCC, nurses will be able to systematically assess the trauma patient, to intervene and/or assist with interventions, and to provide evidence-based trauma nursing care within the context of a trauma team.

Here’s a glimpse into what you’ll learn:

• The latest trauma nursing practice recommendations 
• Systematic assessment and application of care
• Rapid identification of life-threatening injuries

Prehospital Trauma Life Support (PHTLS)

NAEMT's Prehospital Trauma Life Support (PHTLS) is recognized around the world as the leading continuing education program for prehospital emergency trauma care. The mission of PHTLS is to promote excellence in trauma patient management by all providers involved in the delivery of prehospital care.  PHTLS is developed by NAEMT in cooperation with the American College of Surgeons' Committee on Trauma. The Committee provides the medical direction and content oversight for the PHTLS program. 

PHTLS courses improve the quality of trauma care and decrease mortality. The program is based on a philosophy stressing the treatment of the multi-system trauma patient as a unique entity with specific needs. PHTLS promotes critical thinking as the foundation for providing quality care. It is based on the belief that, given a good fund of knowledge and key principles, EMS practitioners are capable of making reasoned decisions regarding patient care. The course utilizes the internationally recognized PHTLS textbook and covers the following topics:

• Physiology of life and death
• Scene assessment
• Patient assessment
• Airway
• Breathing, ventilation and oxygenation
• Circulation, hemorrhage and shock
• Patients with disabilities
• Patient simulations

PHTLS is the global gold standard in prehospital trauma education and is taught in 64 countries. PHTLS is appropriate for EMTs, paramedics, nurses, physician assistants, physicians, and other prehospital providers. PHTLS is accredited by CAPCE and recognized by NREMT.