Press Release, Maryland State Fireman’s Association

At this time, we are pleased to announce that the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute (MFRI) will be offering a new EMT class curriculum, developed and used by the Frederick County Fire and Rescue Department for their career recruit classes. This curriculum is centered around the National Registry model and has been very successful. Under the direction and support of MFRI Executive Director Michael Cox, MFRI will be holding three pilot EMT classes at the WMRTC, College Park, and Arbutus VFD locations beginning in February with dates to be announced shortly.

Changes in the curriculum include: an individual learning assessment of each student using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Assessment so the instructor can identify student learning capacities; classes will use a different EMT manual (Emergency Care and Transport of the Sick and Injured; 11th Edition by Jones and Bartlett) rather than the Brady editions, and the class will discontinue the use of the MyBradyLab computer program. *This change was made after it was suggested that the Brady EMT course content was not desirable for the final outcome of testing for NREMT.

In addition, all students will be issued a tablet to use that follows along with the curriculum, as well as delivers quizzes after that session’s lesson that focus on the current chapter. This is similar to the MyBradyLab currently being used but the content and quizzes are geared more towards computer adaptive learning with exposure to NREMT-type questions from the very beginning of the course rather than at the end. Teaching, reading, testing, and group activities will all focus around the use of the tablet and will be based off of the main five NREMT categories of Airway, Respiration & Ventilation, Cardiology & Resuscitation, Trauma, Medical/Obstetrics/Gynecology, EMS Operations. Module exams will be issued through EMSTesting (Platinum Planner) which is NREMT-based.

Also, each instructor will have access to the quizzes and how their students are progressing through the course. This feedback and consistent analytics are important for the student to see where they may need additional instruction and will allow the instructors to tweak this classes to ensure that each student is grasping the content.

Instructors will also have the opportunity to use reverse classroom tactics, hands-on, out-of-classroom lessons as well as making auditory learning available to all students who prefer to learn using this method.

It is the intention of MFRI to also include preparation hours for the NREMT test as well as offer the NREMT test itself at the conclusion of the course to ensure that all students take the test, improving accountability and accuracy of success rate data.

To summarize, we are hopeful that by utilizing this new type of curriculum, Maryland EMT students are immediately set up for success from the beginning of the class with the exposure to NREMT-type questions and technology. By allowing the instructor to play a more vital role in the assessment and progression of the student with analytics and feedback, their students will be better prepared. Finally, incorporating the NREMT test at the end of the course rather than leaving it up to the student to schedule and take on their own, will also ensure that the student takes the test immediately after completing the course and closes the accountability gap.