National EMS Education Standards Online Now

Be among the first to preview the newly released National EMS Education Standards (Standards) now posted to EMS.gov. Development of these Standards and related Instructional Guidelines (IG) represents a collaborative effort involving NHTSA, the Health Resources and Services Administration, and the National Association of EMS Educators. The new Standards were developed to replace the current US DOT National Standard Curricula (NSC), while the IG were created to aid instructors, EMS education programs, and publishers as they make the transition from the NSC.

More importantly, the new Standards represent a major step forward in fulfilling the vision set forth in the 1996 EMS Agenda for the Future (Agenda) and the 2000 EMS Education Agenda for the Future: A Systems Approach (Education Agenda). Unlike the current NSC, the less prescriptive format of the Standards will allow for more frequent and ongoing revision of content consistent with both scientific evidence and community standards of care.

In fact, adopting and complying with the Standards will also enhance flexibility for educational institutions and programs because instructors will be free to develop their own lesson plans — or use any of the wide variety of high-quality publisher-developed lesson plans and instructional resources available. In addition, publishers will be free to update their text books and their instructor lesson plans as frequently as the market demands.

What's more, the Standards are designed to bring about the greater consistency in EMS education called for in the Education Agenda. Based on the EMS licensure levels identified in the National EMS Scope of Practice Model, the Standards define the entry-level competencies, clinical behaviors, and judgments for each level of EMS personnel (Emergency Medical Responder, Emergency Medical Technician, Advanced Emergency Medical Technician, and Paramedic).

Ultimately, transitioning to the National EMS Education Standards will further overall Education Agenda goals by enhancing instructional quality, reducing educational and licensing inconsistencies from State to State, and providing a clear-cut process to update EMS education as we seek to provide even higher levels of patient care tomorrow.

For more information, please contact Dave Bryson at 202-366-4302 or dave.bryson@dot.gov.