Confused about EMT recertification in California..please help

[linziclip]

Hello guys,

I'm a current college student in CA. My EMT license expires in a couple months. The thing is, I haven't worked as an EMT or used my license at all. The reason is that I have had a really intensive courseload the past few years and a career change, so I have been prepping for medical school. I don't directly plan on working as an EMT in the next few years, but I don't want to lose my licensure.

From what I can deduce from the NREMT website, I can only recertify if I am currently active in the EMS field. If I want to file as inactive, I still need to have 6 months of experience working as an EMT. I don't meet either of those criteria.

So what do I do? If I can't recertify do I just lose my license?

I'm just confused how one can recertify if they don't have any work experience. And how are they to get work experience if they can't recertify?

I apologize if I am mistaken about these things..I'm just really confused at this point

 

[DesertMedic66]

You can still maintain your CA EMT cert without the NREMT being current.

 

[Akulahawk]

Do you have an EMT certificate issued by a California County? If that's the case, the easiest way to recertify is to take a 24 hour recert class and send that to your County EMS office. If you haven't gotten your EMT cert through a California County, you're in for a headache.

 

[linziclip]

You can still maintain your CA EMT cert without the NREMT being current.

Do you have an EMT certificate issued by a California County? If that's the case, the easiest way to recertify is to take a 24 hour recert class and send that to your County EMS office. If you haven't gotten your EMT cert through a California County, you're in for a headache.

I have a California license issued by LA county. It doesn't say LA county on it, just California. It's not like Orange County where you need separate accreditation.

 

[DesertMedic66]

I have a California license issued by LA county. It doesn't say LA county on it, just California. It's not like Orange County where you need separate accreditation.

The majority of CA uses only the state cert.

You can recert in CA without maintaining your NREMT. All you need is either a 24 hour EMT refresher course or at least 24 hours of Continued Education (there are hours that count and ones that don't. College level science classes do count) and a skills competency evaluation forum (skills test).

 

[Akulahawk]

I have a California license issued by LA county. It doesn't say LA county on it, just California. It's not like Orange County where you need separate accreditation.

What you do is you check the LA County EMS website and see what they require for recertification. Chances are that they'll be OK with you taking a 24 hour refresher course (includes a skills check, usually) and once they see that you've met their recert requirements, you'll be issued a new card good for another 2 years.

Just double check that your name and cert can be found on: http://www.centralregistry.ca.gov/

 

[linziclip]

Thanks guys!
I had no idea you didn't need to have NREMT recertification, I just automatically went there for renewal.

Around how much do the refresher courses cost if I am not affiliated with the organization? Should I just cold call the list of training programs on the LA website?

 

[linziclip]

The majority of CA uses only the state cert.

You can recert in CA without maintaining your NREMT. All you need is either a 24 hour EMT refresher course or at least 24 hours of Continued Education (there are hours that count and ones that don't. College level science classes do count) and a skills competency evaluation forum (skills test).

How would I know if something counts? I've taken loads of college science classes...

 

[DesertMedic66]

How would I know if something counts? I've taken loads of college science classes...

I am unable to find the info for LA right now however for ICEMA and REMS (San Bernardino and Ricerside counties) a college level science class that you get a C or better in will count anywhere from 3-4 CEs per unit (a semester long A&P class is worth 15CEs).

http://remsa.us/policy/1301.pdf
#5 relates to the college courses. You can call LA county and ask them just to confirm.

 

[EMT2015]

Do I need to do a separate skills competency evaluation forum if I take a 24-hr refresher course?

 

[Chris07]

A quality refresher course will be a one stop shop with all skills evaluations and stuff needed for recertification included in the course. Often times they allow you to recert your AHA BLS HCP card as well.

 

[EMT2015]

A quality refresher course will be a one stop shop with all skills evaluations and stuff needed for recertification included in the course. Often times they allow you to recert your AHA BLS HCP card as well.

Awesome. I was looking at doing it online, but I would still need to get my skills signed off.