EMT vs Paramedic Training - Knowing the Difference Could Save Your Life

The majority of people I talk to don't understand the difference between an EMT and a Paramedic. Most of us older folks grew up watching the TV show Emergency. That show is why I became a EMT and later took paramedic at Daniel Freeman Hospital Paramedic School. Daniel Freeman was one of the first paramedic schools. It was started by Walter Graf one of the founding fathers of paramedicine. I did my extern training at the old USC Medical Center in LA, Martin Luther King Hospital in Watts, and Cedar Sinai Hospital in West Hollywood.

If you watch the show Code Black on Netflix that's where I trained. The old USC Medical was like no other hospital, it was much like a MASH unit at times... You see more in a day there than you would see in a week at some hospitals.. The people working there were physicians, PA's, and paramedic's learning their skills. It was an amazing place to learn....

People need to understand the difference in EMS responders......

EMT's a course such as UCLA's EMT course that is about 120-150 hours in length. 

Paramedic courses can be between 1,200 to 1,800 hours. EMT and paramedic courses consist of lectures, hands-on skills training, and clinical and/or field internships. E

EMT's are educated in many skills including CPR, giving patients oxygen, administering glucose for diabetics, and helping others with treatments for asthma attacks or allergic reactions. With very few exceptions, such as in the case of auto-injectors for allergic reactions, EMTs are not allowed to provide treatments that requiring breaking the skin: that means no needles.

Paramedics are advanced providers of emergency medical care and are highly educated in topics such as anatomy and physiology, cardiology, medications, and medical procedures. They build on their EMT education and learn more skills such as administering medications, starting intravenous lines, providing advanced airway management for patients, and learning to resuscitate and support patients with significant problems such as heart attacks and traumas. Paramedic education programs (such as UCLA's Paramedic Program) may last six to twelve months.