Utilization of the paramedic certification among emergency medicine undergraduate students

[摘要] Background: Recruitment and retention are significant issues in EMS, both in the classroom and the workforce. It appears that some students in the senior class of the Emergency Medicine majors are choosing not to test for their paramedic certification or work in EMS at all. The purpose of this research was to understand why a portion of the students are choosing to undergo the rigorous paramedic training program during their junior years, and then are not using the training during their senior years and beyond.Methods: A survey was administered to the senior class of Emergency Medicine degree seeking students.Results: Significant differences were found between students with more than and less than one year of prior experience in their confidence in BLS skills, their likeliness to remain in the field in 5 years, and their likeliness to remain in the field in 10 years. Significant differences were also found between students with and without the intent to attend graduate school in their certification levels, their likeliness to remain in the field in 5 years, and their likeliness to remain in the field in 10 years.Conclusions: Factors that could be causing this phenomenon include scheduling conflicts, wage, lack of advancement opportunities, and intent to attend graduate school.

[发布机构] the University of Pittsburgh