FOW

EMT PROGRAM

Learn More about our Curriculum

Emergency Medical Technicians

The first course of our curriculum includes an innovative early clinical immersion in which students integrate their medical knowledge and skills and become certified Emergency Medical Technicians.

The course content specific to the Emergency Medical Technician curricular component was developed using the New York State Department of Health Emergency Medical Technician curriculum with added elements of the basic biomedical, social, and clinical science content essential for medical student education.

Emergency responders wearing black uniforms and purple gloves attend to people lying on stretchers outdoors during a daylight drill or training exercise. Signs and buildings are visible in the background.

Early Clinical Immersion

Learn by Doing — From Day One

From their first weeks, students transition from observers to active participants in real patient care. Through ambulance runs, emergency room follow-throughs, and hands-on clinical encounters, they develop the cognitive, communication, and team-based skills needed to assess patients across a wide range of medical, traumatic, and behavioral conditions. Students engage with patients of diverse ages and backgrounds while collaborating with nurses, physicians, residents, and other care professionals in both field and hospital settings. The experience culminates in a simulated disaster exercise at the Nassau County Fire Service Academy, where students apply their training in a coordinated, team-based response to patients in need.

View Sample EMT Course

Med Student as EMT Published Article

CPR Week & Theme	EMT Required Knowledge	Physician-Specific Knowledge	EMT Required Skills	Physician-Specific Skills
Week 1: The Clinical Thinker – Approaches to Contextual Learning	Interpret vital signs, airway management (oral and nasopharyngeal airways)	Correlation of surface and deep anatomical structures, physiology cell membranes, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy rule; caring for the caregiver	Obtain vital signs; lifting and urgent moves; certification in basic cardiac life support (BLS) and use and maintenance of the automated external defibrillator (AED)	Initial engagement with a patient; reflection; physics of ultrasound, Doppler flow, ultrasonography of arteries and veins
Week 2: To Breathe or Not to Breathe	Management of burns and inhalation injuries	Pulmonary physiology, pathophysiology of COPD and pneumonia, principles of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, principles of hemodynamics, structure and function of autonomic nervous system, introduction to United States health care system	Assess a patient for wheezing , administer bronchodilators; oral suctioning, use of bag-valve-mask, pocket mask, communication, documentation and assessment in the field; oxygen delivery: non-rebreather and nasal cannula; assembly of oxygen cylinder	Understanding a patient’s chief complaint; hypothesis driven pulmonary exam; ultrasound of diaphragm and pleura
Week 3: The Heart in Theory and Practice (The Beat Goes On)	Assessment of patient with cardiac and respiratory emergencies	Pathophysiology of ischemic heart disease, cardiac and mediastinal anatomy, histology and chest imaging; cardiac physiology and action potentials; biases in health care	Management of patients with variety of medical emergencies; ambulance field experience	Gathering the history of present illness with standardized patients, hypothesis driven cardiac exam; ultrasound of cardiac windows and flow