How to become an Emt in Alaska
Do you enjoy helping people? Do you enjoy working under stressful conditions? Does working 24 hour shifts sound interesting? Then a career as an Emergency Medical Technician might be for you. EMTs work for fire departments or work on ambulances. When someone calls 911, for a medical emergency, an EMT is sent to the scene. This article will show you how to become an EMT in Alaska.
US Department of Transportation is responsible for setting standards or both EMT training and licensing. While the standards are set nationally, US Department of Transportation allows individual states to set their own licensing levels and issue licenses. For most states, there are two to three levels (EMT-Basic, EMT-Intermediate, and EMT-Paramedic). However, Alaska does not follow this same model. Alaska offers five different levels of EMT.
The first step in Alaska is to become an Emergency Trauma Technician (ETT). This training was developed by the State of Alaska for limited use in southeast logging camps. This certification would be equivalent to the US Department of Transportation’s First Responder course. This is one step below the US Dot’s EMT-Basic requirements.
Once you have received your Emergency Trauma Technician then you are eligible to obtain certification as an Emergency Medical Technician-I. Alaska’s Intermediate certification is equivalent to national EMT-Basic requirements. Obtaining your EMT-I certification requires you possess certification as an ETT and obtain an additional 120 hours of training. There are several schools offering EMT-I training in Alaska.
University of Alaska at Anchorage provides EMT training courses. These courses allow students to both climb the EMT certifications and receive college credit. Your first step is to obtain your ETT license. With University of Alaska at Anchorage, this will earn you three college credits. Then you can move on to taking courses for your EMT-I. You can get more information from theUniversity of Alaska’s website.
Kenai Peninsula College offers an EMT training program. They offer an EMT course certificate, associate’s degree and a bachelor’s program. If you are looking to make a career in Emergency Medicine then this program would give you a foundation that could lead into management. You can find out more about Kenai Peninsula College’s EMT programs from theirwebsite.
University of Alaska Southeast also offers EMT-I training at their Juneau Campus. This course teaches students how to assess a patient, basic care skills, how to address cardiac arrest, shock, and other emergency conditions. These courses allow students to complete both their ETT and EMT-I coursework. You can learn more information about the University of Alaska Southeast’s EMT-I training on theirwebsite.
These selections do not represent an exhaustive list of schools offering EMT courses. However, these selections are meant to provide perspective EMT students with a start on their journey. You now possess a basic knowledge of the certification levels in Alaska, courses required to become an EMT, and schools that provide the training. You now are on your way to learning how to become an EMT in Alaska.
