Emergency Medical Technician

Program Overview

Kapi‘olani CC EMT courses provide students with the didactic, lab, and clinical components needed for National Registry certification as an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) and licensure by the State of Hawai‘i as an EMT. This includes both cognitive and psychomotor activities as required in the National Education Standards for Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs). These courses meet or exceed the curriculum standards set forth by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Per the National Emergency Medical Services Education Standards at the NHTSA Office of EMS: An EMT is a health professional whose primary focus is to respond to, assess, and triage emergent, urgent, and non-urgent requests for medical care, apply basic knowledge and skills necessary to provide patient care and medical transportation to/from an emergency or health care facility. Depending on patients’ needs and/or system resources, EMTs are sometimes the highest level of care patients will receive during ambulance transport. An EMT is often paired with higher levels of personnel as part of an ambulance crew or other responding group. With proper supervision, an EMT may serve as a patient care team member in a hospital or health care setting to the full extent of the EMT’s education, certification, licensure, and credentialing. In a community setting, an EMT might visit patients at home and make observations reported to a higher-level authority to help manage a patient’s care. When practicing in less populated areas, EMTs may have low call volume coupled with being the only care personnel during prolonged transports. EMTs may provide minimal supervision of lower-level personnel. EMTs can be the first to arrive on scene; they are expected to quickly assess patient conditions, provide stabilizing measures, and request additional resources, as needed.

Contact Information

• O’ahu, Kauai, Maui, Hawai’i program applicants: (808) 734-9288; (808) 734-9330 Fax: (808) 734-9126
• Maui County program applicants may also visit the Maui EMS Training website and may contact Maui EMS Training at (808) 984-3452
• Hawai‘i County program applicants may also contact Hawai‘i EMS Training at (808) 935-8002
• Counselors/Advisors: Health Careers Counseling Center

Degree & Certificates

Certificate of Competence – Emergency Medical Technician (15.6 credits)

The purpose of the Emergency Medical Technician Certificate of Competence program is to prepare students to provide basic life support (BLS) and limited advance life support – assist (ALS-assist) assessment and care to patients in the prehospital environment, including ambulance transport.