By Ana Gomez Salcido
A national shortage in qualified emergency medical transportation specialists has prompted Southwestern College to institute a new program to help paramedics and nurses excel in caring for patients being transferred between care facilities.
Developed at the University of Maryland, the Critical Care Emergency Medical Transport Program (CCEMTP) will provide experienced nurses and paramedics the in-demand education they need to become patient transfer specialists.
Federal law requires care facilities to maintain the same level of care to patients during transport as they would inside the care facility. Reaching hospital-level quality of care is the learning goal for students of this program.
“The need for people like this is growing,” said Jason Hums, Director of CCEMTP at Southwestern College. “There are more and more inter-facility patient transfers and we need these specialists to transfer them.”
Traditional nursing or paramedic programs teach the skills necessary while inside the walls of a hospital or other care facility but do not educate on transferring patients between facilities. Patient transport can take place on the ground with an ambulance, but this program also teaches students how to transport patients in a helicopter or airplane.
Southwestern College is the only institution in a 200-mile radius that will offer the program, and the approach to teaching this program will be unique.
“We will be bringing in specialists to teach each subject matter of the course,” Hums said. “Experts in each individual topic will discuss what is to be expected of the students. That is what’s different about this program.”
The two-week Continuing Education program will begin on June 3 with capacity for 30 students. Classes will be held at Southwestern College’s Higher Education Center in Otay Mesa, home to SWC’s nursing and paramedic programs.
The cost of the course is $1,100 and a deposit of $400 will hold a seat until May 13, 2016, when the final balance is due. For registration information, contact Karen Cook at (619) 216-6760 or email kcook@swccd.edu.