OK, so you decide to finally look up how much continuing education hours you have either accrued or need to successfully re certify your National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians (NREMT) certification using the continuing education option. Being in EMS, one thing we are all good at is waiting until the last minute to check how many hours are needed to meet the NREMT continuing education requirements for the bi-annual re certification. To your surprise, you see two options for renewing your 2 year ticket. If you are due to expire on or before the March 31, 2026 deadline, you will utilize the (National Continued Competency Program (NCCP) 2016 simplified option and for those of us who expire after this date, we are going to have to use the NCCP 2025 pathway. So what is the difference between these two recertification options?
Let’s start with the basics. First of all, the amount of hours required to re certify your NREMT card is based on your level of certification. Emergency Medical Technicians are required to submit 40 total hours of approved education hours, while Advanced EMTs need 50 total approved hours and Paramedic recertification requires 60 hours of approved education. Half of the total required hours are included in the NCCP portion while the other half is included in the State/Local and Individual categories which can be any subject matter that is pertinent to EMS and approved by the NREMT. The NCCP portion is further subdivided into Airway/Respiration/Ventilation, Cardiovascular, Medical, Trauma and Operations subsections and each subsection has it’s own required hours. If you are re certifying under the 2016 simplified option, each of these NCCP subject areas is further delineated by what specific subject matters have to be covered, while the 2025 option has no specific subject matters that are required to be covered under each subsection. Additionally, if you are utilizing the 2025 re certification option, 10% of all approved education must be pediatric specific. On September 30, 2022 NREMT also removed the distributive education limits for all levels of certification making it easier form most providers to obtain the needed hours necessary to meet the re certification requirements.
As is always the case, specific re certification requirements can be sometimes confusing. Our best option is to always seek guidance from either the NREMT or your assigned training officer if you are unsure of how to proceed. Distance CME meets and/or exceeds the bi annual re certification requirements for all NREMT certification levels and is always here to be your go to source for flexible approved continuing education hours. We offer many course options to fit your specific educational needs. Give us a try and you will see how easy and enjoyable recertification can be.
Not sure what you need? CALL US! We can guide you! 1-844-LIVE-CME or 267-417-0009 ext 1 M-F 9-5 eastern
