PARAMEDIC

Equity Statement:

Our faculty, staff, and students work collaboratively to identify and breakdown systemic educational barriers through an equity focused lens. We recruit students to increase diversity in the field of emergency medical services to better represent the community we serve and provide quality prehospital care.  We actively challenge and respond to bias, harassment, and discrimination and value the cultural wealth that our student population brings to the classroom.

Fall 2023 Update:

All EMT and Paramedic courses will continue with face-to-face instruction at the Higher Education Center at Otay Mesa Campus.

Fall 2024 Paramedic Program Applications

The Paramedic Program at Southwestern College will accept applications from February 1, 2024 through April 30, 2024.

Important dates to keep in mind:

• Application deadline: April 30, 2024
• FISDAP Entrance Exam: May 1-2, 2024
• Individual Interviews:  Begin June 3, 2024
• Orientation Day for Incoming Class: July 8, 2024
• First day of class : August 12, 2024

A Life Saving Job

Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) and Paramedics care for the sick or injured in emergency medical settings. People’s lives often depend on their quick reaction and competent care. EMTs and Paramedics respond to emergency calls, perform emergency medical services, and transporting patients to medical facilities. 

Duties:

• Respond to 911 calls for emergency medical assistance, such as myocardial infarctions (heart attacks), strokes, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), or to treat injuries.
• Assess a patient’s condition and determine a course of treatment, following guidelines and protocols that they learned in their extensive education and by orders that they receive in real time from emergency physicians at the hospital.
•  Provide state of the art advanced life saving medications and procedures during rescues, extrications, and disasters.
• Transfer patients to the emergency department, trauma center, stroke center, and STEMI centers
• Transfer critically ill and injured patient from the local emergency room to hospitals with specialty care.
• Respond to any call for help, anywhere, 24 hours a day/7 days a week/365 days a year

Critical Care and Flight Paramedics work as part of a helicopter's flight crew to transport critically ill or injured patients to a hospital from the scene of the accident in addition to transferring patients from one medical facility to another.

The specific responsibilities of a Paramedic depends on their level of training and the state they work in. The National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians (NREMT) provides national certification of EMTs and Paramedics.

Paramedics are the highest level of out of hospital emergency care and provide more extensive pre-hospital care than do EMTs. In addition to carrying out the procedures that EMTs utilize, paramedics can give a variety of medications by mouth and intravenously, interpret electrocardiograms (EKGs)—used to monitor heart function—and use other monitors and complex equipment.

Paramedic Program

Welcome to the Southwestern College Paramedic Program. Use this site to help answer some frequently asked questions.

The goal of the Southwestern College Paramedic Program is to prepare Paramedics who are competent in the cognitive (knowledge), psychomotor (skills), and affective (behavior) learning domains to enter the profession.

Emergency Medical Technicians with a year of full-time work experience are encouraged to apply.

Interested EMTs may obtain an application packet from SWC Higher Education Center at Otay Mesa until the middle of May or via email from   SWCFIREEMS@swccd.edu or by calling 619-216-6760

Classes start in mid-August. Selection into this paramedic training program will be determined based on review and assessment of  application packet.

Earn More. Learn More.

Prospective Students

Suggested Preparation

Paramedic Training Program Accreditation

The Southwestern College Paramedic Training Program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs upon the recommendation of the Committee on Accreditation of Educational Programs for the Emergency Medical Service Professionals (CoAEMSP)

Our goal is "To prepare competent entry-level Paramedics in the cognitive (knowledge), Psychomotor (skills), and affective (behavior) learning domains with or without exit points at the Advanced Emergency Medical Technician and/or Emergency Medical Technician, and/or Emergency Medical Responder levels."

Helpful Links and Documents

Degrees/Certificates Available

• Paramedic Associate in Science Degree and Certification of Achivement Information
• Certificate of Emergency Medical Technology
• Gainful Employment: Paramedic - CT