Teaching in a Changing Landscape

With the landscape of the EMS profession constantly changing, keeping up on the most current research in education is a key to help students learn correct techniques.

To help ensure this is the case, NAEMT recently released its 2^nd edition Advanced Medical Life Support (AMLS) program. The AMLS program addresses how to manage common medical crises in patients, and teaches students to “think outside the box” when providing care.

Endorsed by the National Association of EMS Physicians (NAEMSP), AMLS is a two-day continuing education program that consists of interactive, case-based lectures and critical thinking patient simulation stations. The course emphasizes the use of the AMLS Patient Assessment Pathway, an important guide for assessing medical patients with urgent accuracy and group discussion to identify potential treatment strategies. Students receive 16 hours of CECBEMS-approved credit upon successful completion.

Leslie Hernandez, an EMS educator at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, has been using NAEMT education programs for about 25 years, and recently made the switch to the 2^nd edition AMLS program. 

Hernandez says the transition went smoothly, as it usually does when NAEMT releases a new edition of its educational materials.

“There are some substantive changes,” Hernandez says. “It’s been fleshed out and enhanced extensively, but the general concepts and the principles and the faithfulness to the NAEMT philosophy on how to deliver education is there, so it’s easy to transition.”

Hernandez, who oversees the paramedic program contracted to the university by the U.S. Army, says the way the AMLS program is structured works very well for her and her students.

“It’s extremely important for us to take what we learn in the classroom throughout the program and culminate it with a two-day, or blended, hybrid program such as AMLS,” Hernandez says. “At the end of the program, we ensure they can link all the theory into practice.”

Hernandez says she would absolutely recommend the program to other educators because the content is developed by national experts and is consistent, reliable and timely. She says NAEMT is constantly reassessing where its at in the practice of medicine, which keeps the information fresh.

For more information about the AMLS program or other NAEMT continuing education programs, visit the education section of NAEMT.org.