Vermont Rural Emergency Medical Services (VREMS) Training Program
Summary, Population and Strategy:
The rural state of Vermont has identified a critical shortage in EMS personnel and has highlighted the unmet need for financially and geographically accessible EMS-training as a crucial issue for replenishing the dwindling rural workforce. The VREMS Training Program is a novel and enhanced hybrid (mix of on-line real-time expert teaching sessions, with in-person hands-on skill training sessions located in rural sites) EMT training program made for rural VT.
The Vermont EMS Districts associated with the prospective new trainees in this proposal are among the most rural in the state and have reported the greatest need for accessible training and new EMT practitioners. Not only does the program enable access by rural trainees, but the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians (NREMT) standardized training requirements are enhanced by adding courses that focus on the identification and management of acute mental health and substance use disorders and the use of naloxone in emergency opioid overdose situations. This enhancement to the standard NREMT curriculum acknowledges the need for additional training of EMTs who play a critical role in confronting the worsening mental health and substance use crises that have been shown to be even more severe in the rural EMS districts included in our Program.
The VREMS Training Program is a collaboration of the Vermont Prehospital Medicine Academy (Division of Emergency Medicine, University of Vermont College of Medicine); the Vermont Department of Health Division of Emergency Preparedness, Response & Injury Prevention (VT-EMS); and 4 rural VT EMS Districts (5,8,11,13). The two Lead Course Instructors for the Program are highly experienced (greater than 50 years combined) and are some of the most respected and successful (by certification-rate) EMS-educators in the state.
Project Goals and Measurable Objectives:
The Program goals include providing high-quality, geographically accessible, mental-health and substance-use-disorder enhanced EMT training to 96 new recruits in rural areas of Vermont. The one-year project funds would provide individualized Program support of enhanced training through to full certification of these 96 new EMTs. The measurable objectives to be tracked, reviewed for Program feedback, and included in de-identified biannual reports include the number of EMT trainees recruited, successfully completing the enhanced training courses, and the number successfully licensed and certified as NREMT/VT EMTs, as well as the number of qualifying courses conducted, and number of additional mental health and substance use disorder modules conducted during the funding year. We will also report the number of technology-enhanced educational methods developed and utilized for this novel enhanced rural EMT training program.