BAA, Where do I go?

[Matty]

Hi There,

My name is Matt, I live in South Africa and currently practice as a BAA (Basic Ambulance Assistant.) As far as I understand that is the same as your EMT-B qualification (Baslic Life Support).

I am wanting to eventually move on to become an ILS and potentially an ALS of some sort. I heard America is a good place to study to be a Paramedic, could anyone be able to tell me more information on it and where would be the best place to study and how long the study is for, etc...?

Thanks

Matt

 

[ExpatMedic0]

Hey Matt,
I would just get your Btech in SA, or go to Australia and get your BHS in EMS. I can't say I recommend the USA for Paramedic education, out of the hundreds(maybe thousands) of Paramedic programs we have, only less than 20 offer a bachelors degree. we have an associates degree's a lot of paramedics obtain, its sort of like your Btech degree, but this can be normally be completed in around 2.5 years. Problem is the USA is the only country in the world that utilizes an associates degree, so I am not sure if its worth the paper its written on anywhere else. You can of course get a diploma/certificate as a Paramedic, but this is not well received internationally compared to the common wealth countries degree paramedics.

 

[Matty]

The only problem is that I don't qualify for bTech and they might be removing the CCA Course soon which leaves me with no way of becoming a paramedic, I enjoy being an EMT but paramedics interests me.