What are the qualifications for a paramedic?

After completing the EMT training, you must take a state certification test. As an EMT, you can be employed to provide emergency treatment in ambulances and many other venues.

Most people work as EMTs for a couple of years to get some experience before undergoing the additional 1,200 to 1,800 hours of training to become paramedics. Some paramedic programs require you to have worked as an EMT for six months or so before gaining entrance.

After working and gaining experience as an EMT, the next step is to complete a paramedic training program. The educational requirements to be a paramedic are rigorous. Many community colleges have two-year degree programs in paramedic training.

Oftentimes there's a prerequisite of college-level biology, math and English in order to be accepted in a paramedic program. The curriculum consists of both classroom training and clinical training at hospitals, ambulance companies and fire departments.

A paramedic trainee studies anatomy and physiology, as well as courses such as advanced life support, advanced pediatric life support, and basic trauma life support. After you've completed the required training, the final step in fulfilling the requirements to be a paramedic is to take your state's licensing examination.

It's a difficult test, but there are many great study guides to help you pass it. Once you have the certification, you'll have more paramedic job opportunities than as a basic EMT, plus you'll make a higher salary and have more responsibility. You can work in a fire station, on a life support helicopter, or in a wide variety of other exciting venues.

While the requirements to be a paramedic are arduous, the work itself can be extremely rewarding. Being a paramedic requires dedication to the job, which makes it more of an avocation than a vocation. It definitely isn't the right choice for everybody, but for many, it's the job of a lifetime.