I am a NREMTP that works at a fire dept.. We train all the personnel as first responders. We currently use Dept Of Transportation as our means of certification.
My question is this: what agencies have you heard of that cerficy first responders?
Our first responders are certified by the American Red Cross after taking the Emergency Response course, which follows the DOT standards for first responder.
Our first responders are certified by the American Red Cross after taking the Emergency Response course, which follows the DOT standards for first responder.
Yep. The ARC finally updated the Emergency Response curriculum. It's been outdated for years, making chunks of the textbook unusable. They will be following the new national standards for EMR.
I will not use national registry for FR....I have been a medic for over 20 years and took the NR test and sat in practicals for 10+ hours (and i passed it). The written test in my opinion wasnt a good guide to judge my abilities (i passed it first time).
Here in NM it's different in that to be a certified FR, you must test with the state. But NM doesn't use NREMT for anything but the medic level. At the moment the ARC course doesn't qualify you to test for the FR level... but they're trying to change that. Which I wouldn't mind cause then I can take the FR instructor course
I will not use national registry for FR....I have been a medic for over 20 years and took the NR test and sat in practicals for 10+ hours (and i passed it). The written test in my opinion wasnt a good guide to judge my abilities (i passed it first time).
Remember that some states are very discriminating connoisseurs when it comes to the level of training of anyone who is a first responder, non-transporting unit. In order to be certified as a "First Responder" one can obtain training and then test for the card of their choice through such organizations including ASHI & the ARC, the problem is that your state Dept. of Health may allow for them or may not allow for them to operate in the field. You need to see what your state guidelines are as a starting point. If your state has a First Responder/EMR as a level of training than make sure that all of your peoples qualify and test for certification at the state level as a simple ASHI card wont do at the state standards. One example is here in Pennsylvania, all EMR's must have BLS + ASHI EMR Card + Additional State Modules BEFORE the state will allow to test for a certification. Please ensure your compliance in order to alleviate unnecessary headache on your part. Finally, I agree with starting out the staff as EMR's vs. EMT's for budgetary constraints as it will have an initial cost savings of Approx. 60% (give or take). You can always bridge over to EMT if the state allows for it. Good luck!
