Emergency Medical Services - EMT and ParamedicJob Certificate Program Detail Page

Emergency Medical Services (EMS) practitioners respond to emergencies before a patient reaches a hospital, providing basic and advanced medical treatment before and during transport to a medical facility. Within EMS there are two levels of certification that require a different amount of education and have certain restrictions on what they are allowed to do for patients within their scope of work. Both programs are described below.

1) Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) - - This is the basic program that provides skills and knowledge to apply for certification as an EMT in the State of California. Employment may be found with fire agencies, private ambulance companies, CA Department of Forestry, emergency room technicians, among other related jobs. Programs are available at both American River College and Cosumnes River College.

2) Paramedic -- Education and training for paramedics is more specialized as they provide advanced emergency medical care and treat a wide variety of medical emergencies. They are allowed to administer medications, start intravenous lines, provide advanced airway management for patients and are able to resuscitate and support patients with significant problems such as heart attacks and traumas. This program is available at American River College.

Refer to the Class Schedule for each school term to obtain information about specific dates and times for courses and other satellite locations where courses may be offered. Class Schedules for each of the four colleges can be found at: http://www.losrios.edu...