EMT-Basic 

The Emergency Medical Services Academy (EMSA) is a division of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of New Mexico Health Science Center. Located within a Level 1 Trauma Center, the EMS Academy is able to offer the most complete and well rounded Basic Emergency Medical Technician training in the Southwest. Graduates of the EMS Academy are among the most well trained and qualified in the country. Students at the EMS Academy benefit from the vast array of resources found within the School of Medicine. These include direct physician input in curriculum development, state of the art lab facilities and equipment, the Health Sciences Center Library and multiple state and local agencies that contribute to the training program.

The EMS Academy Basic EMT training program began in 1969 with the Regional Medical Program (RMP), the forerunner of the current EMT Program. Two years later the EMS Academy began teaching the Department of Transportation (DOT) 40 hour course. Today it consists of three parts: didactic, lab and clinical that total approximately 140 hours of instruction. The EMS Academy’s Basic EMT course as the first in the nation to meet and in several areas exceed the new DOT standards. This accomplishment represents in a very tangible way the Academy’s commitment to cutting edge teaching, curriculum and equipment.

Sixty eight hours of Didactic Instruction includes the minimum standard DOT curriculum information as well as additional curricula that prepares an EMT-Basic to stay on the forefront of prehospital field techniques and the advancing knowledge base of prehospital care. Sixty hours of Lab Instruction includes individual instruction in airway management, multi-lumen airways, semi-automatic defibrillation, patient packaging, emergency child birth and patient assessment skills. Special skills include a block of material on Hazardous Material response that results in an "Awareness" Level Hazardous Material certification. In addition students are trained to use glucometry, pulse oximetry and administer several drugs.

The EMT-Basic course can be taken either credit or non-credit. A description of the course can found in the UNM Catalog for the current year. Graduates of the program are awarded a certificate of completion. Admission to the program is based on an open enrollment system. The EMT-Basic course is taught at a variety of services, junior colleges and universities. For a current listing of locations and dates please contact the EMS Academy at (505) 272-5757 or fax (505) 244-1505: e-mail emsacad@unm.edu.

The Academy offers instruction in prehospital provider courses and refreshers at the First Responder, EMT-Basic, EMT-Intermediate and EMT-Paramedic levels. A variety of special courses are taught as well: EMT-Instructor, Vehicular Extrication, Wilderness EMT.