FEMA CERTIFICATIONS

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JosephDurham

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So, I'm curious, the more FEMA certificates that one has, does that make ones resume look better? For the EMT-B I had to take 100 & 700 already, but there are a ton out there to take. Just curious.

Thanks,

Joseph
 
Meh. If you have certifications and use them to actually get additional experience, they can be useful. To simply collect certificates with no appreciable function does not impress me, in fact, it may even be a negative.
 
They probably do, some agency's require all of them to be promoted. I have most of them from the fire side. Not a single useful bit of information in any of them that you don't know already or will need to know. Like NFPA (No ****ing Practical Application)
 
gotshirtz001 said:
Meh. If you have certifications and use them to actually get additional experience, they can be useful. To simply collect certificates with no appreciable function does not impress me, in fact, it may even be a negative.
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How may it be negative?
 
There's a certain point where being a "collector" tells me more about your personality than you would want me to know.

If you have genuine interest in a subject, receive training in it and find a way to use the training then "BRAVO".

If you are a Fire Technology student taking Driver Operator classes and Fire Captain level courses, you show a lack of understanding for educational process. You will have certifications with no application and you will be effectively useless 5-7 years down the road when you may actually need the information that you have since forgotten... But it's cool cuz u have the cert, right?

My advice: if you see a course that is interesting and is directly useful for your current role or in preparation to promote, take it.

If you are simply trying to pad the resume in order to "be more marketable", your efforts will miss the mark.

This is where "certification" vs "qualification" comes in to play; to be certified means you passed the test, to be qualified means you can do the job.
 
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^^^ In my experience, "collectors" tend to be a know-it-alls and a pain in the *** to work with.
 
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However it shows that the person is willing to do extra work that other may not. Taking additional classes may give the person/provider a different view point of how things are done on different levels. Heck you can use a lot of the certs as CME.

Having ACLS as an EMT will help the EMT anticipate what is needed by the medic.

I guess I'm just of a different mind set. If I see an EMT who has been working for 10 years and all he/she has is the bare minimum entry qualifications I am more concerned than that same EMT who has a ton of certs/classes.
 
gotshirtz001 said:
^^^ In my experience, "collectors" tend to be a know-it-alls and a pain in the *** to work with.
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I DO know everything though. And I'm only a pain in the *** if my partner is a complete moron
 
Depends. Since you can do FEMA certifications on the Internet and look up the answers on quizlet (this is not an admission of guilt. Just stating I am aware the answers are online) I would say no. It's more of a company's CYA thing since you have certs saying you have had "training".

You also have to think wether it's pertinent to what your applying for.

Ihave all my FEMA certs, but those were required when I took FireFighter1.
Along side with FIRE1, I also have HazMat Ops, and my Paramedic.

I work in an EMS only system as a Paramedic, and although I include my fire and hazmat certs in my resume, EMS jobs I have applied for tend to care about certifications directed towards EMS such as my ACLS, PALS, AMLS, and PHTLS. I think most EMT courses require a couple fema classes, regardless.

My fire (including the fema certs I took in fire) and hazmat backgrounds have never been brought up in an EMS only interview. If your applying for fire, those fema certs are mandatory for your fire cert in most states, so it would probably be assumed you have them.
 
My last few EMS jobs have all required all of the FEMA NIMS certs. It takes a day to hammer them out, and when it's done, it's done.
 
DesertEMT66 said:
However it shows that the person is willing to do extra work that other may not. Taking additional classes may give the person/provider a different view point of how things are done on different levels. Heck you can use a lot of the certs as CME.

Having ACLS as an EMT will help the EMT anticipate what is needed by the medic.

I guess I'm just of a different mind set. If I see an EMT who has been working for 10 years and all he/she has is the bare minimum entry qualifications I am more concerned than that same EMT who has a ton of certs/classes.
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The OP does not strike me as a 10 year, working EMT. (Not a bad thing)

Those who are willing to "do extra work" will find demonstrable ways to use the training that they take and will have a line item on their resume under EXPERIENCE rather than simply a certificate under EDUCATION... These are not the people I am talking about.

I am simply saying that as a student, or one learning your craft, stick to classes that will make you better at what you are actually doing. A seasonal firefighter who is certified as a Strike Team Leader is a toolbag and won't be working with me at my station.

There are plenty of officers out there who value the cert collecting golden children... No one really likes to work with/for them, either.
 
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DesertEMT66 said:
Having ACLS as an EMT will help the EMT anticipate what is needed by the medic.

.
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Eh. That's debatable.
The issue is cardiology is not taught in your typical EMTB class. Then they attempt to take ACLS and think they are going to be taught cardiology in that short time frame and typically one of three things happen.
1)- They are completely lost and fail/drop out
2)- they memorize enough just to pass the test and still have zero idea what to do in the field and therefore just obtain a card saying they have ACLS, but do not obtain the knowledge. This does not help the medic. It's really annoying.
3)-They teach themselves the ACLS book prior to beginning the class, have a basic concept of ACLS, but are still lost in the field because cardiology is not something that can typically be grasped in mere days, and spend more time asking the medic questions to better understand rather then actually helping. Or Atleast that's my experience.


An EMT that just knows how to place 12 lead electrodes and start an IV is good with me.
 
As an EMT-I we are technically ALS. When your riding with a Paramedic (we always do) that's not really so or needed, certainly that is the case with a Basic. Just doing the procedures in your scope without having to be told or coached is all that any Paramedic should need and in most cases wants. If they need you to do something they will say so, they know what your scope is. Do your job and give them any pertinent information you find that they may need to do theirs. All the BLS calls are yours... that's only fair.
 
COmedic17 said:
Eh. That's debatable.
The issue is cardiology is not taught in your typical EMTB class. Then they attempt to take ACLS and think they are going to be taught cardiology in that short time frame and typically one of three things happen.
1)- They are completely lost and fail/drop out
2)- they memorize enough just to pass the test and still have zero idea what to do in the field and therefore just obtain a card saying they have ACLS, but do not obtain the knowledge. This does not help the medic. It's really annoying.
3)-They teach themselves the ACLS book prior to beginning the class, have a basic concept of ACLS, but are still lost in the field because cardiology is not something that can typically be grasped in mere days, and spend more time asking the medic questions to better understand rather then actually helping. Or Atleast that's my experience.


An EMT that just knows how to place 12 lead electrodes and start an IV is good with me.
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The majority of ACLS is very simple. If the squiggly line looks like this you do this and then this. Having meds already set up during a full arrest is very nice
 
Common ICS course are IS 100, 200, 700, and 800. All available free online. If you are interested in NIMS and ICS and potentially a career path involving being a DC or supervisor or emergency manager or something other than front line work, consider ICS 300 and 400, which are in-person lecture-based classes that go much further in depth and to a truly professional level (ie, google won't be your friend here). If a company knows what they are looking for, ICS 300 and 400 will mean something (assuming the company isn't Trans Med Co Ambo that IFTs all day).
 
DesertEMT66 said:
The majority of ACLS is very simple. If the squiggly line looks like this you do this and then this. Having meds already set up during a full arrest is very nice
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I think it's more in depth then that. Is an EMT going to understand the difference between monomorphic vtach and polymorphic vtach? Are they going to recognize it in the field? Are they going to have the ability to distinguish rhythms after a couple days? I don't believe so. And if they do happen to remember the algorithms, they won't understand WHY they are doing it. If a student ever did a ride along with me and wanted to push a drug, but couldn't tell me why to use it, how the drug works ,contraindications and indications- the correct dose -there's no way in hell I would let them do it.
 
COmedic17 said:
I think it's more in depth then that. Is an EMT going to understand the difference between monomorphic vtach and polymorphic vtach? Are they going to recognize it in the field? Are they going to have the ability to distinguish rhythms after a couple days? I don't believe so. And if they do happen to remember the algorithms, they won't understand WHY they are doing it. If a student ever did a ride along with me and wanted to push a drug, but couldn't tell me why to use it, how the drug works ,contraindications and indications- the correct dose -there's no way in hell I would let them do it.
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The very basic rhythms are not very hard to identify. I'm not talking about having an EMT push meds I'm talking about them seeing V-Fib on the monitor and getting the epi and/or amio and knowing when they come into play.
 
DesertEMT66 said:
The very basic rhythms are not very hard to identify. I'm not talking about having an EMT push meds I'm talking about them seeing V-Fib on the monitor and getting the epi and/or amio and knowing when they come into play.
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It doesn't take very long for me to say " grab epi" either.


I mean do what you want, but I don't see EMTs having ACLS being particularly helpful or necessary. If they told me a patients rhythm I'm going to take it with a very small grain of salt and check it out myself regardless.
 
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