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



## Stingray91

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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## Anjel

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?



mine was 3.5 months ish. And was Tues. through Thurs from 6-10 plus 60 hours of clinicals thrown in.


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## lampnyter

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


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## DesertMedic66

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


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## Shishkabob

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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## NREMTroe

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.



Same with mine.. I think it came out to like 150-160ish hours


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## Tommerag

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


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## cardinalemt

I had mine for 2 months 7 days a week for 8 hours


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## Flight-LP

3 and a half weeks, 40 hours per week.


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## Navajib

3 Months
M-Th 6-10pm + Clinical shifts


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## LWolf

Eight weeks, basically from 9-4, Monday through Friday.


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## Aprz

*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>...


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## Stingray91

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

Don't forget charting!


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## Stingray91

Aprz said:


> Don't forget charting!



Yes, yes, if it wasn't documented it wasn't done. -.-


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## Martyn

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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## Hepinghand

It took me about 5 months .


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## Strap

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


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## jccilm

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

*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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## fast65

If I remember correctly, my EMT-B course was 3.5 hours two times a week for 6 months, excluding clinicals, labs, and ambulance time.


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## freebyrd

Martyn said:


> 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:



600 hrs classtime?! and 110 on the ambo?!

over 700 hrs? wow!
thats the longest i heard of for emt basic, mine was 4 months two days a week from 6 to 10 pm, plus skills and ambo ride alongs 

certificate says 130 hrs but for every hour of classtime i would bet there is a good 3 hours of homework and objectives writing


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## Trauma_Junkie

My EMT-B course was 6 months in duration with class every Tuesday and Thursday from 1800-2200, and a couple Saturdays. We didn't have clinicals but we did have ride time. The minimum for ride time was 24 hours (I don't recall the number of PT contacts required).


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## rmabrey

16 weeks every Tuesday and Thursday from 0800-1150. 16 hours ER and 12 hours Ambulance. Not enough ride time IMO so I took an optional internship with another 120 hours of ride time.


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## Tigger

My course was 144 hours, spread over three and a half months (the better part of a college semester). We had class twice a week from 6-10pm and a couple of weekend skill days for 4-8 hours. We were required to complete 16 hours in the ED and 24 on the ambulance and complete 5 PCRs. The program also allowed for an 8 hour shift with an ALS engine company, which I was happy to take advantage of.


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## HotelCo

6 months. 12 hours every week.


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## kknp4life

3 months without the clinicals.


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## boombox

*Dayton, OHIO NREMT-B SCHEDULE*

Well, i have my 2 cents.

Started on March 28th through June 10th. I attend lecture on mon / weds from 0900 till 1200 (10 hours a week) then a lab session on sat 0900 till 1300 for a total of 15 contact hours a week. Thats a total of 175 college contact hours. 120 of that lecture and 55 lab.

Then is your ride time. 25 hours and 10 pt minimum. 10 hours ER. 10 hours Fire/EMS unit for city. 5 hours with private ambulance company.

END TOTAL AT 200 HOURS!

I already passed all the coarse work (you have to adverage at least 80%), passed all the nation registery skills assesment tests, and have the final at 0900 today. (Class req's at least 80% on final to finish)

Then I just will have the National Registry written left and I am done.


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## HelpmeHelpyou

Aug. 25th 1700-2200 thru Dec. 9th. Clinical were a joke in my class at GCC. 8 patient contacts was all the was required. Either with a local hospital off their list, or a ride along. I am glad I did ride alongs as I find out that the hospital staff was having the students change bed sheets for their clinicals. So sad.


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## SnaKiZe

I took mine this past semester, spring 2011. went from like middle of Jan. to May 5th. Tuesday and Thursday, 5-9pm.
We had to do a mandatory 8 hour clinical (in the ER, or doing ride-alongs), as well has log 8 PT contacts.

and now, I'm a NREMT-B who's fresh out of HS :3
Boo-yah.


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## Akulahawk

Tigger said:


> My course was 144 hours, spread over three and a half months (the better part of a college semester). We had class twice a week from 6-10pm and a couple of weekend skill days for 4-8 hours. We were required to complete 16 hours in the ED and 24 on the ambulance and complete 5 PCRs. The program also allowed for an 8 hour shift with an ALS engine company, which I was happy to take advantage of.


Sounds a lot like my program, about 15 years ago, only no engine time. At the time, I probably could have taken an EMT refresher course and done a reasonably decent job passing the NREMT-B exam.

Of course, that was after having completed four years of education for Sports Med...


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## MrBrown

Took Brown 15 months to become a qualified Ambulance Officer


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