PLATTE CITY, Mo. — The National EMS Management Association is expanding its EMS officer’s credentialing program this year.
NEMSMA is the only accrediting body at the national level to certify all levels of EMS Officers through a comprehensive competencies and validation testing process. NEMSMA introduced the first national EMS Officers assessment and certification program last year with its inaugural examination for Supervising Officers, at the PINNACLE EMS Leadership & Management Conference. More than two dozen individuals successfully completed the application process, submitted required prerequisite documentation regarding eligibility and passed the validation written test in June of last year.
NEMSMA recognized the need for standardized EMS officer competencies and credentialing years ago, publishing “Emergency Medical Services Management and Leadership Development in America: An Agenda for the Future” in 2008. It was determined at that time that a program was clearly needed to identify and standardize the requisite attributes and skills individuals need to be EMS officers, including a process to test and validate an individual’s competence in supervising, managing, and leading EMS organizations.
In 2014, NEMSMA published the “Seven Pillars of National EMS Officer Competencies.” The publication was the product of collaboration among a broad representative group of national EMS experts and association members, representing all delivery models and segments of service. Extensive input was received from all participants and incorporated into the final product. The competencies were developed for the entire EMS community, regardless of service model; volunteer, career or combined staffing models, a rural or urban system or private company, government based or non-profit organization.
Throughout 2017 the Association will be holding additional testing opportunities for EMS Supervising Officer, most notably at EMS Today, the Northwest Colorado EMS Leadership Conference, the PINNACLE EMS Leadership & Management Conference, EMS World Expo, and the American Ambulance Association’s Annual Conference. NEMSMA will also be offering testing for the next EMS officer level (managing officer) in 2017. The Managing Officer’s credentialing examination will first be held at PINNACLE and will include both a written test segment and oral boards. This test will also be available at EMS World Expo and the AAA’s Annual Conference.
In addition, NEMSMA has created preparation courses for individuals to help them understand the format and style of the examinations, which include a review of the competencies. These courses are available independent of testing and may be taken any time before a candidate chooses to register for an exam. They are routinely offered in advance of testing opportunities at the same national and state conferences hosting credentialing examinations.