An emergency medical services (EMS) instructor educates people who work in the field of emergency medicine. EMS instructors teach people how to deal with medical emergencies and provide everything from extensive training courses to refresher courses for people who need to renew their certification or meet continuing education requirements. Specialized training modules, such as terrorism response training or training for people who assist special weapons and tactics (SWAT) teams, are also available.
To work as an EMS instructor, you must first be a fully qualified EMS provider, such as a paramedic, and then complete a training program designed to prepare instructors and trainers. The training program teaches people how to organize a curriculum, meet government-mandated curriculum requirements, and make material interesting and accessible to students. To begin working as an EMS instructor, you may need to pass an exam to obtain certification.
Firefighters, police officers, and medical personnel can all benefit from EMS instructors who work for training facilities. They can also work as independent contractors, offering mobile training. The EMS instructor must ensure that the curriculum meets government standards and guidelines, obtain equipment and supplies for students, including textbooks, and provide high-level instruction for each training. One-on-one contact is usually required to equip people with the physical skills and knowledge necessary to provide emergency medical care.
An EMS instructor can be involved in setting up training scenarios in addition to working in the classroom. People in training to provide emergency services, as well as emergency service agencies interested in testing their personnel and preparing for hypothetical events ranging from car accidents to nuclear bomb detonations, use these. Emergency scenarios may necessitate collaboration with multiple agencies to create a realistic simulation, as well as a post-event analysis of how well everyone performed.
As an EMS instructor, you’ll be preparing people to provide the best possible care while also teaching them how to assess and secure scenes, collaborate with other emergency responders, and provide support in a variety of situations. Many EMS instructors use their own personal experiences to provide students with object lessons and possible scenarios. They can also oversee the testing of students seeking certification, administering written and practical exams to determine whether or not they are qualified to provide emergency medical services.