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Using The Term “EMT”
Every now and then the question emerges, “How can you become an Emergency Medical technician in 5 days?”, and for a while debates on various internet forums rage as to the validity of the private EMT, with constant reminders that they are not Ambulance Technicians and that no one recognises their private qualification.
The IHCD Technician course is an 8 week course normally followed by a 3 week D1/D2 driving course. Full qualification as an IHCD Ambulance Technician is then dependent on satisfactory completion of a one year probationary period with an ambulance organisation providing operational duties for an NHS Ambulance Service Trust. This includes a work-based assessment programme, demonstrating competency in all key skills.
So, how about the 5 day EMT run by private training organisations? What some people seem to get hot under the collar about is not so much what skills are learnt, but the use of the term “EMT”, and that EMT’s should be called advanced first aiders, or advanced first responders or something similar.
In fact, studies have shown that it is very rarely the IHCD Technicians who shout this, but it comes from those who perform an identical or similar role to the EMT, but are not allowed to use the term EMT by their own organisation.
OK, lets get one thing clear – a private EMT is not an equivalent to an IHCD Technician, and no one should try to make a like-for-like comparison. The term EMT has been around for some 20 years now, and within industry is well known and understood as meaning a person who has extended knowledge and training, and it is normally applied to those personnel responsible for on-site emergency medical cover, private ambulance staff, and combined fire and rescue personnel within a large industrial complex.
Nowadays, the private security officer, or the fire and rescue teams on large industrial sites are essential to the infra-structure of the organisation, they are well trained, and they are recognised for what they are. No one calls security officers “Night Watchmen” anymore and industrial fire and rescue teams are a long way removed from the old “Works Fire Brigade”. So, what is this hang-up that some people still have with the term EMT?
One thing that many people get wrong is that they think that EMT training is only 5 days. Leaving aside the driving, Ambulance Technician training takes a person from absolute zero to end of initial training in 8 weeks – much of that time is spent learning anatomy, physiology, body systems, and basic life support, as most candidates on joining have never touched the subject.
Candidates for Lifeskills Medical EMT training must have completed a minimum of 2 years practising as a first aider at HSE First Aid At Work level or higher, and prior to the training there is 2 weeks pre-reading to complete, with a test on day one of the course to check the students capability to undertake the course. And whilst an Ambulance Technician might be termed an “engineer” with diagnostic capability, the EMT is a “mechanic”, with extended practical skills and knowledge to stabilise a patient prior to reaching advanced medical help.
The majority of private ambulance services are now professional and effective in their role, and the standard of knowledge required for entry on to an EMT course and the intensity of the training is such that those who do pass the course gain invaluable knowledge and skills in the assessment and management of medical and trauma emergencies in the pre-hospital environment, using techniques and equipment beyond the scope of first aid.
The requirement from industry for EMT’s is also increasing, with Lifeskills Medical trained EMT’s being employed in diverse situations including the oil and gas industry, in offshore installations, on motor racing circuits, and in the County Fire and Rescue services.
The term EMT is in common use and is not a protected term, as 'Paramedic' is now (and quite rightly so). Private ambulance services want their crews to have increased knowledge and skills, and their professionalism within the boundaries of their sphere of operation is such that they are more than first aiders.
To call these trained personnel 'Advanced First Aiders" would be in itself misleading as they often have to manage and transport medical or trauma patients in the pre-hospital care role, after completing EMT training that includes the mechanism of injury, airway management, oxygen and entonox administration, defibrillation, patient assessment, primary and secondary assessment, vital signs monitoring, angina and myocardial infarction, paediatric trauma, chest abdominal and limb trauma, cardiogenic and hypovolaemic shock, application of splints, head and spinal trauma, spinal immobilisation, management of asthma diabetes and seizures, and management of a cerebrovascular accident.
So, the term EMT is well suited to these emergency medical service and rescue personnel, on-site company ambulance staff who have extended their basic skills. The Lifeskills Medical EMT course is no give away, and is accepted by IHCD for those personnel who wish to instruct on the IHCD First Person On Scene (FPOS) course.
Why isn’t EMT training longer and accredited by a national body? From a purely educational standpoint it would be very nice to have longer duration EMT training (as with almost all training), but the commercial reality is that private ambulance services cannot afford to have their crews off work for long periods of training, and the cost of such training would have to be borne by the client as the end user of the service.
Industry and commerce calls for effective EMT’s, and is not overly concerned with a national qualification. It’s horses for courses, and Lifeskills Medical trained EMT's now exceed the industry standard.
EMT's may not be NHS Technicians, but don't knock them - they are as keen as NHS ambulance crews to learn, improve their skills, and work in a professional manner, and at present most NHS Ambulance Trusts could not cope with their workload without the help of the private ambulance services.
EMT's don't do just five days training. In the main, their base knowledge and skills are sound before they attend training, which counts for some three or even four weeks of the IHCD Technicians course, whereas NHS Ambulance Technicians at the start of their eight weeks training know little or nothing and have to start from scratch. After initial training, EMT's should be as closely monitored and correctly supervised as the IHCD Technician, so that their professionalism be maintained, and full advantage should be taken of specialist accredited courses offered by Lifeskills Medical, such as EMT Advanced training, Ballistics injury management, ILS, FPOS, and IHCD Emergency Services Driving.
Dr. Glyn F Roberts. Ph.D. M.Sc.
Lifeskills Medical Ltd.
Tel: 0870 225 0101
