I'm rather new to this forum, posting from the deepest darkest africa (South Africa). The question i have is regarding levels of training your country/state provide, and the requirements to gain those certifications.
In SA there have been 3 primary roles that have been utilized for quite some time now, these being the BAA, AEA, CCA.
In order to attain an ALS qualification you're required to progress through each of these stages. BAA (depending on the institution you study through) is anywhere from 3 - 9 months (Part time, 4 times a week, every second Sat). After BAA completion you are required to register with the health professions council, in order to progress on to the AEA you have to do 1000 clinical hours on board an ambulance. AEA is anywhere from 9 - 11 months (Part time, 3 times a week, every second Sat) a further 1000 hours is then required in order to meet the requirements to apply for the CCA, CCA is roughly a full 12 months (Full Time).
So to sum it all up, it goes like so….. BAA (3 – 9 months p/time) - 1000 hours - AEA (9 – 11 months p/time) - 1000 hours - CCA (12 months f/time). The usual alphabet soup is generally acquired along the way such as ITLS, PHTLS, ACLS, ATLS, PALS, AMLS and a few fire/rescue courses along the way like LMVR (vehicle extrication).
These courses are now being closed and replaced with a 4 year BTECH degree in EMC, 5 year MTECH degree in EMC. Initially there was also the option for a national diploma in EMC which was a 3 year course.
The issue i forsee for the future is that our entire EMS structure is based on the BAA, AEA, CCA courses. People with many years experience in EMS can no longer progress any further up the food chain without going back to university and doing a 4 year degree. We have an extreme lack of ALS medics in SA as it is, especially in the government sector. Those that qualify as ALS generally choose to work overseas because the pay is higher and the working conditions are better.
What are your thoughts on completely re-inventing the wheel and scrapping these courses? I agree that a better level of education is needed for our medics. But is removing the courses that currently hold our EMS world together (and have been for a very long time) a good idea? Would it not be wiser to work with what we’ve got, increase the duration of courses, increase the entry requirements, monitor all training institutions, implement a national test and try and better what we currently have. Or in the very least create bridging courses between the BAA/AEA/CCA courses to the BTECH EMC so that people who have dedicated their lives to EMS don’t have to quit their profession. What I feel our department of health hasn’t taken into consideration is that an ALS medic earns a great deal more than a BLS/ILS medic. Can we afford it when we cant afford to maintain even the most neccesary of functions such as education or healthcare as it is? I know many South Africans in the EMS industry are going to disagree and perhaps argue for whatever reasons they may have (I took this into consideration before I posted, so hit me with your opinions)
In SA there have been 3 primary roles that have been utilized for quite some time now, these being the BAA, AEA, CCA.
In order to attain an ALS qualification you're required to progress through each of these stages. BAA (depending on the institution you study through) is anywhere from 3 - 9 months (Part time, 4 times a week, every second Sat). After BAA completion you are required to register with the health professions council, in order to progress on to the AEA you have to do 1000 clinical hours on board an ambulance. AEA is anywhere from 9 - 11 months (Part time, 3 times a week, every second Sat) a further 1000 hours is then required in order to meet the requirements to apply for the CCA, CCA is roughly a full 12 months (Full Time).
So to sum it all up, it goes like so….. BAA (3 – 9 months p/time) - 1000 hours - AEA (9 – 11 months p/time) - 1000 hours - CCA (12 months f/time). The usual alphabet soup is generally acquired along the way such as ITLS, PHTLS, ACLS, ATLS, PALS, AMLS and a few fire/rescue courses along the way like LMVR (vehicle extrication).
These courses are now being closed and replaced with a 4 year BTECH degree in EMC, 5 year MTECH degree in EMC. Initially there was also the option for a national diploma in EMC which was a 3 year course.
The issue i forsee for the future is that our entire EMS structure is based on the BAA, AEA, CCA courses. People with many years experience in EMS can no longer progress any further up the food chain without going back to university and doing a 4 year degree. We have an extreme lack of ALS medics in SA as it is, especially in the government sector. Those that qualify as ALS generally choose to work overseas because the pay is higher and the working conditions are better.
What are your thoughts on completely re-inventing the wheel and scrapping these courses? I agree that a better level of education is needed for our medics. But is removing the courses that currently hold our EMS world together (and have been for a very long time) a good idea? Would it not be wiser to work with what we’ve got, increase the duration of courses, increase the entry requirements, monitor all training institutions, implement a national test and try and better what we currently have. Or in the very least create bridging courses between the BAA/AEA/CCA courses to the BTECH EMC so that people who have dedicated their lives to EMS don’t have to quit their profession. What I feel our department of health hasn’t taken into consideration is that an ALS medic earns a great deal more than a BLS/ILS medic. Can we afford it when we cant afford to maintain even the most neccesary of functions such as education or healthcare as it is? I know many South Africans in the EMS industry are going to disagree and perhaps argue for whatever reasons they may have (I took this into consideration before I posted, so hit me with your opinions)