QUINCY — Quincy College is preparing to begin offering training for emergency medical technicians and paramedics starting this fall and winter.

The Comprehensive Medical Teaching Institute, a Weymouth-based corporation, is partnering with the city-run community college to launch an EMT program this September. In January, the college will start offering a paramedic education program.

“Quincy College is uniquely positioned to educate the next generation of emergency medical professionals,” Quincy College President Michael G. Bellotti said in a statement. “Additionally, this program allows many of our current students pursuing related fields of study like criminal justice or nursing to build upon their skill sets.”

Both EMTs and paramedics are trained to respond to medical emergencies, but their training and scope of knowledge varies greatly. EMTs are clinicians who operate in a limited capacity and typically receive between 120 and 150 hours of training. They are certified to do things like give CPR and oxygen and ready patients for transport.

Paramedics are more advanced emergency specialists who are required to complete between 1,200 and 1,800 hours of training and are able to give medication, start intravenous lines and provide trauma care.

Both EMTs and paramedics are often employed by ambulance services and fire departments, and a recent shift has lead to new requirements in some departments that demand firefighters be certified paramedics, not just EMTs. On the South Shore, departments in Scituate, Marshfield and Norwell will only hire paramedics, and usually send them to the fire academy after they’re hired.

The paramedic program is to be offered at the college’s Quincy campus to medical professionals or first responders who are already certified as EMTs. The certificate program will offer 27 college credits and take between 18 and 20 months to complete.

The EMT certification is a six-credit, entry-level program.

 

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