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Medical First Aid Provider Courses

By learning first-aid treatment and techniques, like CPR and how to evaluate an accident scene, the average person can help to treat those in need until professional medical help arrives. Those interested in learning how to become a first aid provider can pursue educational opportunities to become emergency medical technicians (EMTs) or paramedics.

  1. Community Courses

    • Communities often offer some sort of basic first-aid courses. These classes are intended for anyone who is interested in learning about how to administer care as a first responder to a medical emergency, and are geared toward those with no experience. Typically, these classes will focus on wound cleaning and care, burns, CPR and blocked airways.

    CPR Certification

    • In many fields, like childcare and lifeguarding, CPR certification can be a requirement. Courses that offer CPR certification are typically very brief, lasting one or two sessions. At the end of your classroom work, you will be tested according to a standardized rubric to determine your proficiency at CPR. If you perform the techniques you learned in class correctly, you will be granted your CPR certification. It's important to check the guidelines for CPR regularly even if you are certified, however, to keep up with any new recommendations and to keep your skills sharp.

    Emergency Medical Technician Courses

    • For those looking to make a career out of responding to medical emergencies, courses in professional first-aid techniques are offered by many organizations. These classes are intended for those looking to become employed as EMTs and last several weeks with extensive practical and theoretical education. These classes are similar to college courses, although they are accessible to anyone with a high school diploma, and they cover how to respond to an accident scene, how to deal with dozens of injuries and illnesses from third-degree burns to heart attacks, triage and more basic life-saving skills like CPR. Complex and intensive, these classes typically cost a few hundred dollars. If you pass the practical and written exams at the end of the course, you will be certified as an EMT, allowing you to be employed as a first responder.

    Further Education

    • When you gain your EMT certification, you are certified at the lowest of three levels, called "Basic." Above this are "Intermediate" and "Advanced," levels both of which require more classroom and practical training and cover progressively more advanced and complex methods of medical care. At the advanced level, you are certified as a paramedic, which is the highest level.

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