Earning EMT-B Certification
Ready to launch your career or volunteer service as an EMT? You’ve picked a rewarding path, full of opportunities for personal and professional growth and important experiences.
At HCI, you can earn your EMT certification and be on your way to making a real difference in your community sooner than you may think.
What is an EMT-B?
When we refer to an EMT or emergency medical technician, we typically mean EMT-Basic or EMT-B. There is also a designation called EMT-P or EMT-Paramedic, but individuals of that certification level are typically referred to as simply paramedics. EMT-Bs or simply EMTs are members of an emergency medical service corps who are trained and certified to offer intervening medical care in the event of an emergency medical situation. EMTs may work for a government-run ambulance corps, hospital ambulance team, or other private organization.
Responsibilities of an EMT include assessing patients, resuscitation/CPR, burn and poison control, emergency obstetrics, and more.
How Do You Become an EMT-B?
At HCI, you can complete the training and education required to become an EMT in as little as one year. Through a combination of lectures, labs, and field work conducted both on an ambulance and in a hospital or clinic, students learn material to the standards of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the entity that paved the way for EMS to exist.
Topics covered include emergency care fundamentals and prepare students for the licensing exam they must successfully complete in order to work as an EMT. For more about the HCI EMT-B program, click here.
Once the training and education portion is passed, students must be added to the national EMT registry by passing the NREMT and state licensing test. The NREMT consists of two exams that thoroughly inspect a candidate’s preparedness to work as an EMT. The first test is the Cognitive Exam, which may take up to two and a half hours and covers topics like trauma, respiration, and more.
The second is the Psychomotor Exam, which examines 12 practical skills and is administered in scenarios that test the candidates’ ability to perform the duties associated with the job.
