EMT transition period not expected to be extended

By JOHN HULTGREN
Kentucky EMS Connection

ASHLAND — Although the Kentucky EMS Council had recommended extending the deadline for completing the EMT-Basic Transition Course until the end of this year, the deadline will most likely remain June 30.

Current state EMT regulations require all EMT-Basics trained prior to the 1994 curriculum to successfully complete an approved EMT-Basic Transition Course by June 30, 1999.

Efforts to extend that deadline have effectively failed. Although the extension was included in proposed changes to the EMT regulations, it's now apparent that the new regulations will not be finished until December.

Phil Taylor, president of the Kentucky EMT Instructors Association, today asked EMT instructors to identify areas where transition training is needed and offer classes.

"About fifty percent of the EMTs in Kentucky have not had the transition course, and time is running out," Taylor said to instructors attending their association's annual meting in Ashland this afternoon.

Completing an EMT-Basic Transition Course is optional for paramedics.  The Kentucky Ambulance Providers Association, however, has strongly recommended that paramedics complete the training in case anything happens to their paramedic certification in the future.

Changes in the EMT-First Responder regulations, which are finished, will also be delayed because they are tied to the EMT regulations.

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