If you want to become an EMT but you don’t have the time you should, consider the various online EMT schools that are available to you. Studying online will allow you to fit the program into your daily schedule with more ease, so you will not have to compromise your job in order to study. You may also find that these types of online programs that are offered, are a lot cheaper. You also have to be careful through. Many online schools are not properly certified, or they do not offer an education that is worth the money that they make you pay for it. It is very important that you look into each and every one of these schools very carefully before you make a final decision about whether or not this is the best option for you. You will also have to make the decision of which online school you would like to attend.
Pros And Cons Of Attending EMT Schools Online
Pros
The following are the main pros of online EMT schools:
- You will be able to have a substantially more flexible schedule
- You will have the opportunity to work at your own pace
- You will not be inhibited from studying simply because you live too far away from a school
- You will be able to study from anywhere that has an Internet connection
- You will be able to deal with most of the lecture based material in an easy way
- You will find that online EMT schools are often cheaper
Let’s discuss these in more detail. The first two points tend to go hand in hand. If you study online you will be able to create a flexible schedule that does not interfere with your daily tasks and activities. So you will not have to compromise on your work activities in order to study. In addition, you will be able to work at your own pace. In a classroom situation you often have to work at the same pace as the slowest person in the class, but with online schools you can work at whatever pace specifically suits you.
A problem that a lot of students face is that they are unable to study simply because they live too far away from any school that offers the program. However if you find a good online EMT school you should be able to study anyway, as long as there is a health care facility nearby enough for you to do the required practical work. In most cases you needn’t be restrained by distance; the Internet is capable of negating that problem and opening up the realm of learning for any and all students who are interested in advancing their educations.
You will be able to choose the location where you study as long as there is an Internet connection and a computer of some kind. If you know that you will have some free time at work, you can do your studying from there. If you have a laptop and prefer to study in your pajamas or in bed, you will be able to. In short you will be able to select a location to study that is the most convenient and most comfortable for your personally. Clearly this is something that is not possible with face-to-face classes.
Through an online EMT school you will be able to get through all of the theoretical lecture based material in a fairly quick and easy way. This is convenient for most students who have a lot of commitments on their time. In many cases they find it easy to slot in the clinical experience as part of their current jobs, but they don’t have time to attend the theory classes. The online method allows you to get this knowledge in when you can, and this means that even more students are now able to get their EMT qualifications fairly easily.
In many cases, an online EMT school is a lot cheaper than a face-to-face situation. This could be due to the fact that you will often have to organize your own clinical hours by appealing to a health care institute in your area, so there is no cost to the school in this regard. They also do not have to cover the rent of a building to teach you in as lectures take place in an online format. Cheaper is obviously not always better, but it is an important aspect to consider when deciding whether or not you should study at an online EMT school.
Cons
Of course there are a number of cons to studying online as well:
- You may struggle to fit in the required clinical hours
- With online schools there is often a problems in terms of accreditation
- Online learning is not the best method for everyone
- The quality of the education you receive may be compromised
- You will lack that very important interaction with lecturers and other students
- You may find it difficult to find the motivation required
As you will not be able to do your practical tasks and clinical hours online, you may find it a bit of a challenge to fit these necessary requirements into your schedule. It is essential that you make the time, however, as you will be unable to get your qualification if you do not complete these necessary hours.
In addition online schools often do not have the necessary accreditation so you need to be extra careful that the school you attend is properly accredited. If it is not, you will effectively be wasting your time and your money because you will not be taken seriously once you have completed your EMT training program online.
Remember that not everyone learns well in an online format. A lot of people need the structure that comes with a classroom situation in order to really learn well and make a success of their education, so it is important for you to decide whether this method will work for you, or if you are ready to make it work for you. It requires a lot of self-discipline, so analyze your skills and decide whether or not you have the ability to make yourself do the work you need to do in what otherwise would have been your free time.
What often happens with an online school is that the quality of the education that you receive is not as good as what you may have received if you had attended a face-to-face school instead. However, this is not true of all online schools, and generally this problem can be avoided through careful research of the school. You should take the time necessary to examine all of the pros and cons of the school that you plan to attend and look at how past pupils from that school have fared in their careers as EMTs. The quality of education is something that you have to determine well ahead of time.
For many people it is the interaction with their lecturers that helps them to learn well. Even more importantly is the interaction with other students. A classroom discussion over a topic can make a huge difference in terms of your ability to understand that topic. If you are studying form home in your own time you will miss out on this interaction which may mean that you will be unable to perform at an optimal level. If this turns out to be the case, you should consider looking into transferring to an offline school as soon as possible.
Last but not least, you will need a huge amount of motivation if you want to make a success of studying online. This is not something that comes naturally to everyone. You will have to push yourself to work as hard as you would have done in a classroom situation, and this will not be easy. Some days you will be tempted to just not do anything because it doesn’t feel important. As soon as you take one ‘break’ from your studies you will start a downward spiral and the next thing you know, your exam will be around the corner and you will have done very little to prepare for it.
How To Select EMT Schools
There are a number of tips you should keep in mind for selecting EMT schools, whether they be online or offline options:
- Firstly you need to determine if the school will prepare you to pass a written and practical EMT-Basic certification exam in your state so that you will be able to be certified. This is essential. If you are not certified you will effectively be wasting your time. Also state requirements can differ quite vastly so the emphasis is on your state.
- There are a number of different EMT certifications. If you want to stick to the same online EMT school to progress through each of the levels, you should definitely find out well ahead of time whether or not the school you are interested in offers all of the qualifications that you would like to complete. It will be easier if you can do them all at the same institution. This also means that you will have to assess the quality of each of the certifications that the school offers before enrolling.
- The field that an EMT works in is always evolving. This means that the school you attend needs to provide a program that is up to date and that is in touch with the modern procedures and so on that are used in the field. You will need to have an up to date understanding of things in order to be successful at your job.
- The online EMT school will need to provide hands-on training. This is of course impossible to do online, but there will have to be something in place because hands-on training is a requirement if you wish to be properly certified as an EMT at the end of the day. If there is no clinical training provided you may be wasting your time.
Some Of The Top Online EMT Schools
Here are the names and contact information for some of the best online EMT schools:
- University of Utah 50 North Medical Drive Salt Lake City, UT 84132 801-581-7332 Utah.edu
- Jefferson University Hospitals 111 South 11the Street Philadelphia, PA 19107 800-533-3669 Jefferson.edu
- Harrisburg Area Community College (HACC) 1641 Old Philadelphia Pike Lancaster, PA 17602 717-293-5000 Hacc.edu
These are not your only options, but this list is a good place to start your search for an online school through which to get your EMT qualification and certification.
Now that you have read through this article you should have a clearer idea in your mind of what to expect from online EMT schools, and it should also make your decision about whether or not you should study through one of these schools at least a little bit easier for you to make. Make sure that you compare all of the online schools carefully. In addition you should include an analysis of face-to-face classroom based schools that offer flexible programs and see if you will not perhaps be able to make compromises. In some cases the face-to-face schools may be better. Remember that schools need to be chosen on an individual basis. What works for your best friend may not necessarily work for you, so it s very important that you have a clear idea of what you want from the program and what your goals are. This will make your decision about what type of school as well as the specific school you will attend a lot easier. That said online EMT schools have a lot in their favor and if you can make it work you will probably not be sorry in the long run.