Emergency Medical Services (EMS)
Certification for Out-of-Hospital Providers

The State of Nebraska has four levels of certification for out-of-hospital providers they are:  First Responders (FR), Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), Emergency Medical Technician-Intermediate (EMT-I) and Emergency Medical Technician-Paramedic (EMT-P).  These professionals are dedicated to the emergency medical care that makes the emergency medical system of Nebraska work. 

Out-of-hospital service providers need a destination for their patients.   Creating strong relationships between health care facilities and the local out-of-hospital provider is key to maintaining a viable health care system.  The EMS Program and staff supports quality assurance efforts, education programs and many other activities in support of hospitals and their personnel.

In order to become an out-of-hospital provider in Nebraska, an individual must successfully complete the course and certification requirements of each of these levels.  For more information on how to become a certified out-of-hospital provider contact one of the Regional EMS Specialists.

First Responder (FR) - A First Responder is trained to:

• Respond safely to the emergency to which they were called,
• Determine scene safety,
• Determine the cause of the illness or injury, the number of patients, the condition of each patient and to communicate such information to the arriving ambulance,
• Maintain the patient's airway,
• Ventilate the patient,
• Perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR),
• Control bleeding,
• Bandage wounds,
• Stabilize fractures,
• Assist in childbirth,
• Manage respiratory problems,
• Assist the patient with an altered mental status,
• Manage environmental emergencies,
• Use automatic or semi-automatic defibrillators,
• Immobilize musculoskeletal injuries,
• Implement shock management,
• Extract patients from entrapment,
• Assist other EMS Providers in rendering care, lifting, moving and loading patients into the ambulance, and
• Reports verbally or in writing all observations and medical care provided to the patient to the transporting ambulance.

    Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) - An EMT is trained to:

• Respond safely to the emergency to which they were called and provides efficient and immediate care,
• Open and maintain the patient's airway,
• Ventilate the patient,
• Perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR),
• Use automatic or semi-automatic defibrillators,
• Control bleeding,
• Implement shock management,
• Bandage wounds,
• Immobilizes painful, swollen or deformed extremities,
• Assists in childbirth,
• Manages respiratory, cardiac, diabetic, allergic, behavioral and environmental emergencies and suspected poisonings,
• Assists patients with prescribed medications,
• Administers oxygen, oral glucose and activated charcoal,
• May monitor intravenous solutions,
• May utilize advanced airway management devices,
• May utilize Federal Drug Administration approved home glucose monitoring devices, and
• Transports the patient.

Emergency Medical Technician - Intermediate (EMT-I) 
The EMT-I while functioning with an Advanced Life Support service may perform all the practices and procedures of an EMT as well as:

• Visualized endotracheal intubation, and
• Intravenous therapy

Emergency Medical Technician - Paramedic (EMT-P)
The EMT-P while functioning with an Advanced Life Support service may perform all the practices and procedures of an EMT as well as:

• Endotracheal intubation,
• Intravenous administration,
• Intravenous drug administration,
• Subcutaneous injections,
• Intramuscular injections,
• Venipuncture,
• Oropharyngeal and tracheal suctioning,
• Therapeutic electrical therapy,
• Electrocardiogram interpretation,
• Emergency cricothyrotomy,
• Needle chest decompression,
• Intraosseous infusion,
• Gastric suctioning,
• Oral drug administration, and
• Aerosolized drug administration.

Individual providers spend hundreds of hours in training and responding to calls in order to care for everyone from strangers to families.  The EMS Program assists providers in attaining and maintaining their certification through various means.  The EMS Program also offers a recruitment and retention plan that can be adapted to fit unique situations. 

For more information contact:
Nebraska Department of HHS, Public Health Assurance
P.O. Box 95026
Lincoln, NE 68509-5007
Phone:(402) 471-3578
E-mail: doug.fuller@dhhs.ne.gov

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