New Program Proposal Associate In Health Sciences Major In Emergency Medical Technology printable pdf download

CAAL

Agenda Item 2.d.

4/22/2004

New Program Proposal

Associate in Health Sciences, Major in Emergency Medical Technology

Technical College of the Lowcountry

Summary

The Technical College of the Lowcountry requests approval to offer a program

leading to the Associate in Health Sciences degree with a major in Emergency Medical

Technology at the Grand Strand Campus, to be implemented in August 2004.

The Board of the State Technical College System approved the proposal on

February 12, 2004. The proposal was submitted for Commission review on February 14,

2004.

The proposal was reviewed without substantive comment and voted upon

favorably by the Advisory Committee on Academic Programs at its meeting on March

31, 2004.

The purpose of the program is to prepare graduates either for entry-level into the

EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) field or to advance the careers of those already in

the field who have only received non-credit training and/or non-degree educational

preparation thus far. The need for the program is based on demand by employers (both

public and private) and on the increased level of education and training required for

entering or career progression in the field. The fact that DHEC has recently adopted new

US Department of Transportation (USDOT) national standards for EMT has meant that a

person in the field must take advanced training or an associate degree program. A person

interested in the field as a career opportunity will have to have completed either advanced

training or an associate degree in the field. The fact that the advanced training option

does not allow for financial aid will make the associate degree option much more

appealing to many students.

Based on a needs analysis survey conducted by the

institution in Fall 2003, there were an estimated 123-125 full-time (new and replacement)

positions in the EMT field in the service area for 2003.

The curriculum consists of 69 credit hours. Of these, 15 credits are in general

education, three are in an elective, and 51 are in the major field itself. The curriculum

has been designed to meet the USDOT standards recently adopted by the South Carolina

DHEC. The proposed curriculum is similar in content to that offered by the other three

technical colleges which have been approved to offer a program in this field: Greenville

Technical College, Florence-Darlington Technical College, and Horry-Georgetown

Technical College (just approved in 2004 by the Commission for beginning Fall 2004.)

Each of these institutions has a different geographical clientele from the proposed

New Program Proposal Associate In Health Sciences Major In Emergency Medical Technology