Paramedic Program History
Clinical EMS (Emergency Medical Services) training has been a mainstay of the George Washington University (GW) Emergency Health Services Program (EHS) since its creation as the GW Emergency Medical Services Degree Program in 1986. GW EHS is an academic program in the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences and operated an on-campus paramedic course designed for traditional college students and courses for EMS agencies and other open enrollment learners. These courses were conducted on the GW Foggy Bottom Campus in Washington, DC, at local agency training centers, and at the Commonwealth Prehospital Education Center (CPEC) located in Fairfax, VA. GW EHS’ paramedic training was accredited by the DC Department of Health, Virginia Department of Health Office of EMS, and Maryland Institute of Emergency Services Systems. All courses were recognized and accredited by the appropriate state EMS regulatory authority. The Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs granted the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences initial accreditation on October 18, 2002, after the peer review by the Committee on Accreditation of Educational Programs for the EMS Professions.
GW EHS successfully obtained full accreditation and maintained ongoing accreditation until it ceased conducting initial paramedic training in 2007. GW EHS voluntarily changed its accreditation status to inactive because GW University leadership no longer supported initial clinical paramedic training after a change to the program's structure. Due to systematic restructuring of the GW Medical Center and other partnering agreements with local community colleges, initial paramedic training was sunset following the successful completion of a course conducted for the District ofColumbia Fire Department. GW EHS has continuously delivered high-quality paramedic continuing education, advanced paramedic training, and other initial BLS (Basic Life Support) & ALS (Advanced Life Support) training since the last initial paramedic course.
For the reinvigoration of the program, the inaugural Paramedic program was an academy model training program, 9.5 months in duration, that drew from career trainees in local public safety and EMS agencies and utilized lab instructors from each EMS agency as well as award winning faculty at The George Washington University. The mission of this program is to elevate the professionalization of prehospital and paramedic education with a combination of traditional didactics, hands-on labs, state of the art simulation, problem-based learning, evidence-based medicine review and regional clinical rotations.
