What Are the Different Types of Prehospital Training?

Different types of prehospital training include paramedic training, emergency medical technician (EMT) training, phlebotomy training and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training. First aid courses are also a part of prehospital education. These programs prepare workers to administer life-saving medical services to victims en route to a medical facility.

First aid and CPR education are the most basic prehospital training programs available. In a first aid course, which is generally only a couple hours long, enrollees learn how to properly address cuts, bruises, frostbite, and fainting, in addition to other forms of trauma, such as broken bones. CPR courses, often taught in tandem with first aid, teach how to offer rudimentary life support to someone who isn’t breathing or whose heart has stopped.

Generally, a person can earn certification for CPR in one day. Training involves learning how to resuscitate both adults and infants, whether alone or by working with a partner. Trainees are taught the Heimlich maneuver, a technique to relieve someone who is choking, and how to use an automatic external defibrillator (AED), which can jumpstart a stopped heart with an electric charge.

While many laypeople may be proficient in first aid or CPR, training programs for emergency medical technicians, paramedics and phlebotomists are more specialized areas of prehospital training, reserved for those entering employment in the emergency medical services (EMS) field, whether through ambulance, fire, police or other first responder services. Prehospital training for these professionals teaches them how to care for patients involved in crashes, fires, heart attacks and shootings. EMS personnel are also taught how to respond to natural disasters and other emergencies.

In order to enroll in EMT courses, one must already have CPR certification. EMT education, which typically takes between 100 and 130 hours to complete, is divided into two types: basic and intermediate, also called advanced. Professionals with basic EMT training learn how to respond to emergency calls and provide aid for those with extensive trauma, allergies, breathing issues or heart problems. They also learn how to give glucose in order to help diabetics on the verge of a sugar-induced coma. Those with intermediate or advanced EMT training are taught to fulfill those basic EMT duties, but at a higher level of expertise and proficiency since they have more classroom and clinical training hours. All EMTs must complete an exam for certification after the completion of coursework in order to be employed.

Aspiring paramedics must have EMT credentials in order to enroll in prehospital training courses for paramedics. With training covering and exceeding that of emergency medical technicians, paramedics learn how to attach lines for intravenous (IV) therapy, administer drugs to patients and start intubation. Paramedics are also taught to be proficient in using advanced medical technology, including various monitors and electrocardiograms. Prehospital training for phlebotomists teaches how to draw and analyze blood from patients before they are delivered to the hospital.