NECI                                                      
                                         EMD National Certification


This is a 24-hour EMD national certification course that certifies formerly trained and experienced emergency communications personnel with the NHTSA EMD National Standard Curriculum. It's primary purpose is to ensure that the student possesses the baseline knowledge and skills to function in the role of an Emergency Medical Dispatcher (EMD) as prescribed by the agency medical control. 
The agency medical control is the EMS physician with jurisdiction over the local EMS system. The EMD must use the EMD protocols pre-approved by the agency medical control. This course will train the EMD candidate to direct and manage their emergency medical resources through the agency medical control. 

The local, regional, or state medical authority with medical control over the EMS system within which the EMD practices has the authority to waive any requirements related to the EMD training program, EMD instructor requirements below and the use and modification of EMD protocols.


Student Performance Objectives

To become certified, the EMD Officer candidate will demonstrate the following capabilities: 

  • Obtain information from callers
  • Select the proper medical protocol
  • Send the appropriate medical response
  • Provide pre-arrival medical instructions to the caller
  • Remain on the phone (in life-threatening emergencies) until field
    responders arrive


Prerequisites Qualification Requirements

ASTM/NHTSA EMD Instructor Prerequisites - ASTM F 1552-94 (Revised 2002) Standard Practice for Training Instructor Qualification and Certification 

Eligibility for Emergency Medical Dispatchers, Section 5, Instructor Qualifications: 


5.1       All instructors shall be thoroughly knowledgeable about the emergency medical dispatching environment and with the working environment of public safety communications.

5.2       It is essential that the emergency medical dispatch instructor be capable of understanding, adequately presenting,  and defending ALS level-Dispatch Life Support information. This necessitates that the instructor responsible for teaching the medical portion (Module One: Unit Three- Understanding the uman Anatomy and Module Three: Unit Two -Introduction to Common Medical Emergencies) of the training program have training, skill, and experience at the advanced EMT (EMT-1/EMT-P) level). Alternately, this instructor may be a critical care trained physician, nurse or physician assistant. This level of instructor qualification is necessary to facilitate the student's understanding of medical classifications necessary to interrogate and evaluate the input of the caller, as well as their ability to categorize the information obtained from the caller and assign appropriate and locally designed response configurations and modes. 

5.3       The instructor shall have proven competence as an instructor in a related field 
 
5.4       EMD instructors shall be proficient in the specific skills and concepts taught in the EMD course 

5.5       Each instructor shall have successfully completed a recognized EMD training course



Course Content

  • Module One: Emergency Medical Dispatch
  • Module One: Unit One - Introduction to the EMD Officer Roles and Responsibilities
  • Module One: Unit Two: Liability and Legal Issues in EMD
  • Module One: Unit Three- Understanding the Human Anatomy
  • Module Two: Call Receiving, Response, and Pre-arrival Instructions
  • Module Two: Unit One- Call Receiving Phase
  • Module Two: Unit Two- The Response Phase
  • Module Two: Unit Three- Pre-arrival Instructions
  • Module Three: Introduction to EMD Protocols
  • Module Three: Unit One- Introduction to EMD Protocols
  • Module Three: Unit Two - Introduction to Common Medical Emergencies


Every student manual has a classroom copy of the entire NECI EMD Medical Protocols for role-playing during training.