American College of Paramedics to be created

By Nick Nudell, EMSAC Region 1 Representative

I recently spent an incredible week in Quebec City attending the Paramedic Chiefs of Canada (PCC) leadership summit, the Global Paramedic Leadership Alliance (GPLA), and the International Roundtable of Community Paramedicine (IRCP). It was both inspiring and heartwarming to reconnect with old friends and meet new ones, all of whom are at the forefront of the paramedic profession worldwide.

I had the privilege of discussing the paramedic profession with service leaders, academics, community paramedics, and paramedics from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, the U.K., France, Italy, and Germany. Unlike typical conferences, these events featured paramedic-led research and groundbreaking advancements, such as Demers Ambulance showcasing its first all-electric ambulance with impressive new capabilities.

One highlight was a session led by APA International Board Member Dr. Peter O’Meara (AUS), where representatives from paramedic colleges worldwide discussed how their developments have advanced the profession in their respective countries.

These discussions have sparked an important movement within the APA, bringing to light something we first described in 2019: the need for a national College of Paramedics in the USA. Over the past year, your board has explored what this means and how to move forward. We have decided that waiting for the perfect moment is not in our best interest because WE ARE the tipping point.

We are excited to announce the upcoming formation of the American College of Paramedics, which will serve as a national professional regulatory body, similar to the American College of Surgeons, the American College of Emergency Physicians, the American College of Cardiology, the (United Kingdom) College of Paramedics, and the Australasian College of Paramedicine.

To be recognized as paramedics, members must meet high education, ethics, and professional behavior standards. One of the first tasks for the American College of Paramedics will be to set core standards for how paramedics should act. Then, we will determine the national scope of practice, education needs, quality checks, and how to handle rule violations. This ensures that paramedics who join the College are the best in their field.

We will soon create a contact list for everyone who wants to be involved and plan to schedule webinars with some global experts on paramedic colleges. These webinars will help us learn from their experiences and best practices to improve our collective understanding.

Nick Nudell is EMSAC's Region 1 Representative and the newly-appointed NE Colorado RETAC Coordinator. He is a practicing paramedic currently working PRN in a moderately busy suburban to remote 911 system in Colorado. Nick is completing his dissertation for a PhD in Public Policy & Administration by studying the regulatory systems of ambulances services in the USA and the Commonwealth countries after completing the doctoral coursework in Information Systems-Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence before realizing that he is not a computer programmer.