What is the difference between EMT’s and Paramedics?
All pre-hospital emergency life support providers start at the Basic level. An EMT-Basic course is approximately 140 hours in Massachusetts. Massachusetts has chosen not only to adopt the DOT recommended curriculum for EMT-Basics, but to add several topics of study. The next level of EMT is the EMT-Intermediate, which 41 states recognize in some form. In Massachusetts, an EMT-I course is approximately 80 hours of classroom time, and after classroom study, students are required to spend a minimum of 80 hours doing ride time in an ambulance. During this ride time, the EMT-I student must initiate certain emergency procedures in the field under the guidance of another Intermediate or Paramedic before the student can take the exam. In Massachusetts, an Intermediate can initiate IV’s and employ advanced airway devices to deliver Oxygen to patients. In over 30 states, Intermediates are also given the training to administer some medications that the EMT-Basic cannot. The highest level of EMT,
