By Ric R
There are countless EMT classes across the country. Universities, community colleges, private sector schools, vocational school and even fire departments offering certified classes. With so many choices where do you turn? The good news is that you have so many choices. The bad news is that you will only know how the class experience is by taking it. To help filter through the choices, let’s separate out the classes themselves.
First, what type of student are you? Do you have good study habits? Have you completed some upper level courses or secondary education? This would give you an advantage over the next student. The information presented during an EMT class is not difficult to comprehend. The volume of information is what makes an EMT class difficult. The example would be the top-level of medical education. If you use the physician as an example, they would be expected to have total knowledge of the total body. That is a lot of information. Contrarily, the EMT is expected to have total knowledge of specific diseases and injuries. This is much less content than the physician, but still a difficult task. At the end of the day, the physiology is concepts. You just need to have some one explain it well. On the other hand, anatomy is straight memorization. There is no trick. It just takes time.
Some people perform best with a build up of information. This is the traditional learning style. Start with a simple First Aid class and a simple CPR class. These are relatively easy and are concepts that expand during the EMT class. Follow this with a First Responder class. This class is more in-depth, and build upon your knowledge base. Then finally take an EMT class. By this time you would have heard and reviewed many of the same concepts presented. There is no substitute for a good teacher. The only way to have some idea of the quality of instruction is to get a recommendation.
Finally, there are many support material available to the future EMT student. Most are in the form of books. Occasionally you can find a program that has ” on-line” learning materials. This is something to consider when taking the EMT class. When you complete the class, you will need to pass the National Registry Exam. This is a computer based test that uses an algorithm know as adaptive testing. The test questions get harder as you answer them correctly. If the EMT class does not prepare you for this type of exam, the chances of not being successful is increased.