Strategies of high-performing paramedic educational programs

To identify the specific educational strategies used by paramedic educational programs that have attained consistently high success rates on the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians (NREMT) examination.

NREMT data from 2003-2007 were analyzed to identify consistently high-performing paramedic educational programs. Representatives from 12 programs that have maintained a 75% first-attempt pass rate for at least four of five years and had more than 20 graduates per year were invited to participate in a focus group. Using the nominal group technique (NGT), participants were asked to answer the following question: "What are specific strategies that lead to a successful paramedic educational program?"

All 12 emergency medical services (EMS) educational programs meeting the eligibility requirements participated. After completing the seven-step NGT process, 12 strategies were identified as leading to a successful paramedic educational program: 1) achieve and maintain national accreditation; 2) maintain high-level entry requirements and prerequisites; 3) provide students with a clear idea of expectations for student success; 4) establish a philosophy and foster a culture that values continuous review and improvement; 5) create your own examinations, lesson plans, presentations, and course materials using multiple current references; 6) emphasize emergency medical technician (EMT)-Basic concepts throughout the class; 7) use frequent case-based classroom scenarios; 8) expose students to as many prehospital advanced life support (ALS) patient contacts as possible, preferably where they are in charge; 9) create and administer valid examinations that have been through a review process (such as qualitative analysis); 10) provide students with frequent detailed feedback regarding their performance (such as formal examination reviews); 11) incorporate critical thinking and problem solving into all testing; and 12) deploy predictive testing with analysis prior to certification.

Twelve specific strategies were identified by representatives from high-performing paramedic education programs. Further study should be conducted to determine whether implementation of these recommendations would improve program pass rates on the NREMT credentialing examination and improve entry-level paramedic field performance.