Real Quick...
First, this must be the most boring blog I've EVER written.
Second, this blog WILL teach you how to simplify the NREMT process, and should clear up any confusion you have about what hours you need. However, this blog is very specific to the FOAMfrat Library when it comes to what hours to take - I list what hours to take inside our course. So, it's basically an advertisement - don't mind the specifics when I list what classes to attend. This blog is almost an exact copy of the instructions inside of the course that we've updated.
Third, this is specific to the NREMT allowing you to do all recorded content - so I don't mention live classes. Yes, FOAMfrat DOES have live classes that run M-F to satisfy the live requirements, but we're not worried about that right now.
Fourth, this is specific to paramedic renewal. If you want to see the the EMT and AEMT version, sign up for our free trial, get some CE, and you'll have access to the other versions.
Think about recertification like finishing a degree program
We're going to use the example of completing a degree to understand how NREMT hour requirements work. You have to complete:
40 'credits' (hours) for EMT
50 'credits' (hours) for AEMT
60 'credits' (hours) for Paramedic
Completing those hours will get you your 'degree' (your NREMT recertification). However, just like a degree, you have specific requirements that you need to meet. Think of those specific requirements like your major. If you were to pursue a degree in biology, of course you would need to take some really specific classes - A&P 1+2, microbiology, organic chemistry, bioethics, etc.. What about pursuing a 'degree' (certification) for your EMS level?
With the NREMT, you're getting a certification in EMS, so of course there are some specific classes that you're going to need to take (these are your National Component hours). Then, just like any degree, you're going to have elective hours that you can take (these are your State / Local and Individual Components). State / Local is 15 hours, so is the individual component (total of 30 hours after your national component to make a total of 60).
Before we get into these different components, I've got some good news for you! You're already ahead of the game because of your certifications, such as BLS, ACLS, PALS, PHTLS, etc.. Those hours are like classes that you're transferring into this new NREMT college! If you've gained credits at another school, of course you should use them! Let's take a look at transferring our courses first.
Start by transferring your 'credits'
How many hours did you spend on each on of your certification classes? Let's use these hours earned as an example:
BLS (CPR): 4 hours
ACLS: 5 hours
PALS: 5 hours
PHTLS: 6 hours
That's a lot of credits!
Now that we know we're transferring hours into the NREMT, what should we apply them towards? Luckily, the NCCP helps us out with a chart that tells us where we can apply every certification course that they approve (I've made our own that you can fill out - file down below).
Check it out:
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I know... that's a really big chart. BUT, it's super helpful. The hours that are outlined on this page are the National Component hours. Those are the hours that are like our degree major requirements. This chart shows us what hours we can transfer in, and what we can apply them to (that means we don't have to take additional hours to satisfy the National Component since we're transferring them in from our certification classes).
Remember those 4 hours of BLS? According to this chart, I could apply 4 of those hours to stuff like... 1 hour towards Hygiene / vaccinations, 1 hour towards ROSC, 1 hour towards medication delivery, and 1 hour towards crew resource management (that's 4 hours because I had 4 hours to apply). Anything with a check mark at the cross section of the certification and the hour is fair game. Have ACLS and need an hour for CNS injury? That works too. Have PALS and need an hour for pediatric cardiac arrest? That works too.
Just be sure you don't over estimate how many 'credits' you have to transfer. However long your certification class was (BLS, ACLS, PALS, whatever) that's the max amount of hours you can apply to your National Component.
In our recertification model, we're going to recommend you take almost all our required courses, because it's much more simple that way, and you'll be happy when you can roll those certification hours over into your last two components after the required items are done through our courses.
An important distinction to make is that just because you have an AHA BLS certification, for example, not EVERY checkmark on that chart is taken care of. Those checkmarks just mean you can CHOOSE from those hours, spending only the amount of hours you HAVE (however long the course was in hours).
You'll also notice that all the hours in the national component must not be equal to only one hour a piece. For example, look at the cardiovascular section - there are 7 different classes, but it equals 8.5 hours? How are you supposed to split that up? Don't worry, just follow the guide below when we break down the hours and you'll be fine (we'll even recommend where to place some of your certification hours).
The National Component
As we take you through our recommended way of doing the national component for the NREMT, you're going to notice that you'll be getting more than the recommended hours in each of the five sections - this is on purpose, and it will take more of the guess work out of your other components later on.
(Obviously these links don't work, but they do inside the course page.)
For the ARV section, you need 3.5 total hours per NREMT, but in this plan you'll end up with 6.0. That's good, because you'll be more than covered, and hit all the required topics / content. In this section, I would NOT recommend applying any of your certification hours yet. Get all these hours from our classes - you'll be glad you did.
Expected minimum durations for these courses per the NCCP:
Ventilation: 2.0 hr (you'll end up with 3.5)
Capnography: 1.0 hr (you'll end up with 1.0)
Oxygenation: 0.5 hr (you'll end up with 1.5)
Like I said above, we'll be meeting and exceeding these hours if you take the courses above.
What should you do with the extra hours that are NOT specific to the National component? Apply them to the Local / State, and then Individual Components.
After you take all your Airway/Respiration/Ventilation courses, let's check off our cardiovascular section next!
In the cardiovascular section, we want you to take a few introductory lessons before we get to the required national component stuff - don't worry, the hours aren't going to waste. They are reducing guesswork in later sections. In this section, we will recommend you apply at least a few of your hours from certification classes, and give you some other options as well.
The NREMT expects us to spend 8.5 hours on cardiovascular, but we'll be spending 13 in this course, and adding some certification hours as well.
Expected minimum durations for these courses per the NCCP:
ROSC: 0.5 hr (you'll end up with 1.0)
LVAD: 0.5 hr (you'll end up with 1.0)
Stroke: 1.5 hr (you'll end up with 2.0)
Cardiac Arrest: 2.0 hr (you'll end up with 2.0)
Pediatric Cardiac Arrest: 2.5 hr (you'll end up with 2.5 - 1.0 from us and 1.5 from your certifications)
Congestive Heart Failure: 0.5 hr (you'll end up with 1.0)
Acute Coronary Syndrome: 1.0 hr (you'll end up with 1.5)
Again, where are we applying our certification hours in cardiovascular? Apply 1.5 certification hours to pediatric cardiac arrest to get that up to 2.5 hours. These can come from BLS, PALS, PEPP, or a few different trauma causes noted on the graph above.
What should you do with the extra hours that are NOT specific to the National component? Apply them to the Local / State, and then Individual Components.
Alright! What's next? Now that you've got your whole cardiovascular section completed, let's move on to Trauma!
In the Trauma section we'll be starting off with your NREMT required content, then adding some additional trauma classes on assessment and interventions (you'll be glad you did).
The NREMT only expects us to spend 3.0 hours on cardiovascular, but we'll be spending 10.0 in this course. Again, don't worry - the hours are not going to waste. Also, In this section, I'm not going to recommend that you use any more of your certification hours just yet.
Expected minimum durations for these courses per the NCCP:
Trauma Triage: 1.0 hr (you'll end up with 1.0)
CNS Injury: 1.0 hr (you'll end up with 1.0)
Hemorrhage Control: 0.5 hr (you'll end up with 1.0)
Fluid Resuscitation: 0.5 hr (you'll end up with 2.0)
And of course we'll then be adding in the other classes as well.
What should you do with the extra hours that are NOT specific to the National component? Apply them to the Local / State, and then Individual Components.
Alright! What's next? Now that you've got your whole Trauma section completed, let's move on to Medical!
Medical has so many different broad topics that we're not going to do any introduction / essential classes in this section - we'll be jumping right into the required topics.
Just like in the cardiovascular section, the NREMT expects us to spend 8.5 hours on medical, but we'll be spending 12.0 in this course, and again probably not adding any certification classes. 11 hours are made up of the required content, and then there is one additional hour on benzodiazepines.
Expected minimum durations for these courses per the NCCP:
Special Healthcare Needs: 2.0 hr (you'll end up with 2.0)
OB Emergencies: 0.5 hr (you'll end up with 1.0)
Infectious Disease: 0.5 hr (you'll end up with 1.0)
Medication Delivery: 1.0 hr (you'll end up with 1.0)
Pain Management: 1.0 hr (you'll end up with 1.0)
Psychiatric and Behavioral Emergencies: 1.0 hr (you'll end up with 1.0)
Toxicological Emergencies: 0.5 hr (you'll end up with 1.0 (combined with our immunological / tox class)
Neurological Emergencies: 0.5 hr (you'll end up with 1.0)
Endocrine Emergencies: 1.0 hr (you'll end up with 1.0)
Immunological Emergencies: 0.5 hr (you'll end up with 1.0 (combined with our immunological / tox class)
What should you do with the extra hours that are NOT specific to the National component? Apply them to the Local / State, and then Individual Components.
Alright! What's next? Now that you've got your whole Medical section completed, let's move on to our last National Component section - Operations!
Operations is our last section, and it's pretty diverse. We're going to stick to our National Component required topics. the NREMT expects us to spend 6.5 hours here, and we'll be meeting those requirements with an extra half hour to spare.
You could apply a bunch of hours from your certification classes here if you wanted to. However, if you want to keep things as simple as possible, take all of our classes on these subjects, and then apply all your certification hours to the Local/State and Individual components as 'elective' hours.
Expected minimum durations for these courses per the NCCP:
At-Risk Populations: 1.0 hr (you'll end up with 1.0)
Ambulance Safety: 0.5 hr (you'll end up with 0.5)
Field Triage: 1.0 hr (you'll end up with 1.0)
EMS Provider Hygiene, Safety, and Vaccinations: 0.5 hr (you'll end up with 0.5 - This is in the combination class entitled "EMS Culture of safety")
EMS Culture of Safety: 0.5 hr (you'll end up with 0.5 - This is combined with the EMS Provider Hygiene, Safety, and Vaccinations class in the class entitled "EMS Culture of Safety")
Pediatric Transport: 0.5 hr (you'll end up with 0.5)
Crew Resource Management: 1.0 hr (you'll end up with 1.0)
EMS Research: 1.0 hr (you'll end up with 1.0)
Evidence Based Guidelines: 0.5 hr (you'll end up with 1.0)
What should you do with the extra hours that are NOT specific to the National component? Apply them to the Local / State, and then Individual Components.
That's it for your National Component! Since we spend more than the required amount of time in each of the sections, we've reduced the time that we need to spend in the Local / State and Individual Components substantially! (Your 'elective' hours.) Let's take a look at what's left - it's really not much!
The Road So Far
Great job so far! Let's add up our hours and check our progress.
ARV: We needed 3.5, but we obtained 6.0.
CV: We needed 8.5, but we obtained 13.0. (Running total = 19)
Trauma: We needed 3.0, but we obtained 10.0. (Running total = 29)
Medical: We needed 8.5, but we obtained 12.0. (Running total = 41)
Operations: We needed 6.5, but we obtained 7.0. (Running total = 48)
So far we have 48 hours, AND we've fulfilled ALL of our specific required hours - Nice!!
In addition to that, we've likely only used a small portion of our transferred hours. Maybe you used more and skipped some of our classes, and that's fine too. I'm going to assume the worst case scenario - that you've used ALL of your certification hours, and then you still need 12 hours to complete your NREMT renewal.
Wrapping Up
How many hours do you have left from your certifications? 6? Then you would only have 6 hours left to take in our course. 10? Then you would take the remaining 2 from our course. Whatever you have left, just follow this list of suggested classes to round out your education until you hit your 60 hour requirement. Fill up the State / Local first, then wrap up by filling up the Individual Component.
What Now?
Upload all of your certifications to NREMT through the CAPCE upload section, and you should be done!
However, don't forget that the purpose of our course is not just to renew your NREMT. We like to think of ourselves as more of a library than a course - we have more hours than what you need for a reason. Go ahead and explore the rest of the course! There are classes that you still have not taken, including regular classes, the whole critical care section, ultrasound, plus the live classes that run 5 days a week!
If you've decided you want to take our course,
check it out here:
