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Earn your Paramedical Sciences degree from the Ñý¼§Ö±²¥

Earn your associate degree in paramedicine at Missoula College and open the door to a rewarding career as a paramedic. As a student, you will care for patients in real emergency situations and gain the advanced training and education required to become a National Registry Paramedic (NRP). Graduates will be eligible to test for the National Registry Paramedic certification.

Our two-year paramedicine program is designed to give you maximum hands-on experience and real-world application. Our experienced instructors are engaged in high-fidelity lab simulations and small-group skill stations. In addition to paramedic courses, you will complete over 700 hours of clinical and field rotations in hospitals and aboard ambulances.  

When you graduate, you’ll have all the skills you need to assess patients, perform critical medical interventions and serve as an integral part of an emergency response team. Students who succeed in the paramedicine field possess critical thinking skills and thrive in high stress, high intensity situations and possess a love of learning and change.

The paramedicine program offers both in-person and online instruction. Hybrid Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ may attend some classes remotely or on their own schedule.

The Missoula College Paramedicine Program is accredited by the upon the recommendation of the Committee on Accreditation of Education Programs for the EMS Professions (CoAEMSP). 

What can you do with a Paramedicine Degree?

Paramedic jobs are some of the most challenging, exciting and rewarding careers in health care. Every day, paramedics employ life-saving strategies, from performing CPR to administering medications. If you want to help people and make a difference with your career, it’s the job of a lifetime.

You can use your paramedicine degree to work in:

• Hospitals
• City, rural or government agencies (including fire departments, ground and flight transport agencies or 911 response services)
• Emergency service providers

It’s a fast-growing field, with opportunities nationwide in communities and within the travel sector. Your paramedic courses and clinical experience will also provide a solid foundation to pursue advanced education in the medical field.

Paramedic jobs

Becoming a paramedic or EMT isn’t your only option. The skills and training you receive in this program, along with additional schooling, will open the door to other professional opportunities like these:

• Critical care paramedic
• Emergency room technician
• Firefighter
• Flight paramedic
• Wildland fire paramedic
• Search and Rescue paramedic
• Extraction industry paramedic
• Film set paramedic
• Physician
• Physician Assistant

Paramedic salary

According to Salary.com, EMTs and paramedics earn between $37,120 and $61,242 with an average salary of $46,770. Emergency room paramedics make an average of $61,242. Wildland firefighter paramedics earn $600 per day.

Experiential learning in the paramedic associate degree

Our paramedic program is delivered through a community partnership with Missoula Emergency Services, Inc., which has been training paramedics since the 1980s. It’s one of the ways we are able to provide real-world paramedic training that will prepare you to hit the ground running from your first day on the job.

You will participate in over 700 hours of hands-on clinical and field rotations. Our Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ use high-tech simulation tools and engage in realistic training scenarios in our lab. You will care for patients in real emergency situations and manage police, fire and health professionals at actual emergency scenes as part of your capstone. When you graduate, you’ll be ready to provide life-saving interventions and serve your community.

Career development for the paramedic associate degree

Your paramedic courses are team-taught by faculty who are medical doctors, physician assistants, paramedics, nurses and other health professionals who bring decades of EMS experience. Their knowledge and guidance will help you achieve success in this rewarding and in-demand profession.

Learning from medical field experts also affords you the opportunity to advance your education. Many of our Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ continue their college education with us. The Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ offers many certificates, bachelor’s and master’s degree programs to augment your paramedic training.

Paramedics can continue their education with evolving training for:

• Critical care paramedic
• Community integrated health paramedic

We also offer a wide range of student support services such as career mentoring and job placement assistance.

2+2 program

The Missoula College paramedicine program partners with the School of Integrative Physiology and Athletic Training (IPAT) at the Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ to offer a 2+2 program that prepares Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ to continue their studies to become a physician assistant.

Students complete their first two years of study in the Missoula College paramedicine program, earning their associate degree, then transition to the UM campus where they complete two years of study in the IPAT program to earn a Bachelor of Science. Students graduate from this 2+2 program having fulfilled all the academic requirements to enter the University of Washington MEDEX program to become a physician assistant.

What classes are required for an associate degree in paramedicine?

Coursework for the paramedic associate degree at Missoula College requires pre-requisites before beginning the program. Coursework includes foundational paramedicine courses such as anatomy, cardiology, trauma, pediatric and geriatric specialized care and medical terminology. Concentrations are available in Community Paramedicine and Critical Care Paramedicine.

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