Since the dawn of time, education has spanned all worlds as the benchmark of success. From Egyptian times, where literacy was the ideal, to the modern age, when a Bachelors Degree was the ideal to entry level, education has, and will always be paramount to success.

How many people have parents who encouraged us to become something special? Go to college, get a degree. Become a doctor, lawyer, nurse, or anything else that would make you enough money to put them in a “good nursing home”. Ok, maybe that was just my parents. 

But the ideal still exists regularly. Without a proper education, it is difficult to be successful in the modern world.

 Seems that EMS education is lacking considerably. Why is that? Where is the breakdown occurring that is causing the completely inappropriately educated ALS and BLS providers? 

I’m willing to guess one large part of the issue, is drastically under educated educators. Do you know what it takes to get a position as a primary course educator in any major university? I wouldn’t suggest applying with less a than masters. A Masters! That’s six years of education for a Masters. Rightfully so. If you are planning to generate well rounded, educated students, why wouldn’t you want the best educated individuals at the helm? 

Now, relate that principal to EMS. What does it take to teach an EMS program in most of the United States? A masters? Want the best educated individuals at the helm? Teaching medicine to the next group of front line lifesavers? 

Would make sense right? 6 year education? Sounds good. Then again, it would be a pretty drastic change from the 16-25 hour “crash course” in adult education methodologies. Sixteen to twenty five hours. Lets put this into consideration with a comparison. A phone survey completed this morning to my local McDonalds corporate office confirms a McDonalds entry level position is a 24 hour orientation. 

24 hours! So, you mean to tell me McDonalds is orienting employees as long in how to properly fry a tasty snack, as we are educating the teachers of the future of the EMS world? 

This is an embarrassment. As I work at a municipal service today, I decided to call the roadwork crew, to see how long they orient. 

32 hours. 32 hours, and that’s just for roads. More training for electrical, trash and wastes, mechanics, and clearing trees. Yet we’re churning out educators in record time. 

A quick call to my bank to check my balance, and I happened to ask for the teller training. 24 hours. Twenty four hours on the perilous task of counting money. Counting money! Amazing the comparisons. 

So, in reality, could this be why the abilities of the typical BLS or ALS provider seems to be declining over time? Could be. Maybe if we required a 6 year education for educators, we could create better providers. Maybe EMS might grow to what it could one day be. 

Maybe one day…we can be proud. 

Til then…James Weber
 

James Weber, EMT-B, AAS is a BLS provider in the state of Pennsylvania with 7 years field experience in urban and rural areas. He currently operated as Vice President of the number one EMS website, Fieldmedics.com.