Havent renewed NREMT since 2012

TechMedic

TechMedic

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Im currently on a hiatus from EMS while I pursue a career in IT. I got my NREMT EMT-I back in 2012 but never kept up with it since it wasnt required to hold my state license. My Texas AEMT license is currently inactive and will require me to get my NREMT cert back when I go back to active. While I am still taking my CE courses, I currently dont have a plan on when I will get back into EMS but I know I eventually will, I'm just making sure I understand what I will need to do when the time comes.

All that said, Im unclear if I can still recertify and completion of CE hours will be acceptable (psychomotor exam is something else as there isnt one within 5 hours of where I live), or since it has been so long I will need to redo the initial certification and have to take a full EMS course all over again. With Texas, if the license has been expired for more than one year, this is the case and you have to start all over again from square one. I know they have a re-entry option, however it doesnt clarify if there is a time limit to qualify. There is also the issue of the EMT-I vs AEMT change. I have sent a message to NREMT but havent gotten a reply. Any insight would be appreciated.
 
You will have to submit 50 CE hours and retake the cognitive exam and likely the psychomotor exam. Being that you've been certified as an EMT-I and now you're lapsed both NREMT and Texas, at least you likely won't have to redo the entire course. However, those 50 hours will have to meet the 2016 standards. If you're unaffiliated, then you would renew into an inactive status and a future employer would have to verify your skills to move you to an active status.

I'm also a (very) lapsed NREMT-P. My state P-card is still very much active and has been since I earned it. Should I want to renew my NREMTP, I'll have to do 30 hours of CE that meets 2016 standards and take the cognitive exam. My employer would then have to verify my skills with the NREMT and then I'd have the active certification. Otherwise I basically renew into an inactive status. That being said, my state doesn't require active NREMTP to maintain an active Paramedic license, so it doesn't make any sense to renew my NREMTP card to an inactive status. Should I decide to actively work as a Paramedic, I would have to re-accredit with the local EMS agency or agencies where I might be sent to work. Should I do that, and decide to maybe work as a medic outside my current state, then renewing to an active status with the NREMT might be a good thing... but I haven't needed it for >20 years...
 
I am looking at a similar situation, the Texas law is definitely confusing and makes it sound like a person might need to take the entire course over. Mine has been lapsed a bit longer but I am considering re-entry.

So I sent a message to Texas DSHS and they said that you can apply using reciprocity as long as the NREMT is current, and there is a Texas specific jurisprudence CE that is needed as well as fingerprinting.
 
Your situation is not unlike mine, other than the fact that my hiatus from EMS was due to pursing higher education in another (arguably related) clinical field. It is really unfortunate that the NREMT makes it so difficult to maintain certification, especially considering the nationwide demand for paramedics and the presumed value of EMS providers with experience in other clinical disciplines.

My best advice it to talk to local EMS educators, as they are likely the best source of knowledge for potential shortcuts and loopholes.
 
Carlos Danger said:
Your situation is not unlike mine, other than the fact that my hiatus from EMS was due to pursing higher education in another (arguably related) clinical field. It is really unfortunate that the NREMT makes it so difficult to maintain certification, especially considering the nationwide demand for paramedics and the presumed value of EMS providers with experience in other clinical disciplines.

My best advice it to talk to local EMS educators, as they are likely the best source of knowledge for potential shortcuts and loopholes.
Click to expand...
It’s not really that difficult to maintain your cert or even to go from active status to inactive and then back to active. It’s only a matter of uploading some CE documents, clicking some buttons, and waiting for your agency’s medical director to approve your skills.
 
DesertMedic66 said:
It’s not really that difficult to maintain your cert or even to go from active status to inactive and then back to active. It’s only a matter of uploading some CE documents, clicking some buttons, and waiting for your agency’s medical director to approve your skills.
Click to expand...
The process may be easier and more flexible now 10+ years later, but maintaining the required CE was prohibitive for me at the time for reasons that I don't specifically remember. I think the requirement at the time was to take specifically accredited CE's which simply weren't available to me, and the NREMT definitely didn't find my clinical time in the OR or the 90+ hours of graduate work in pharmacology, physiology, airway management, and related topics acceptable. I had had a similar problem years before when I was on a hiatus from EMS working as an ICU nurse and completing my BSN which resulted in my needing to do the entire initial testing process over.

There should definitely be more flexibility for those away from EMS working and learning in related clinical fields.
 
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