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In the wake of years of record setting EMS deaths due to vehicle crashes congress called on the EMS community to improve their driving standards. Come January 1, 2015 only certified ambulance drivers will be allowed behind the wheel of an ambulance. Drivers will be certified via the standards set by a new organization, the National Registry of Ambulance Drivers, NRAD.
National Registry of Ambulance Drivers, NRAD to certify person to drive ambulance
EMS service directors across the country agree this is a step in the right direction for the profession of pre-hospital emergency care. James Porter director of North Central EMS sees this as a major cost saving measure also.
“Our contract calls for EMTs to earn $16 an hour and Paramedics get $22. I got transport units that run with both an EMT and Paramedic. Problem is all the EMT does is drive. If I could hire someone with less training it stands to reason I could pay him or her less. If that person were to specialize in driving then we might have fewer accidents, so our insurance would go down.”
Community College EMS instructor Mike Lemley sees this as a different kind of positive.
“Kids come in here and work up the skills ladder while working a job also. They get their EMT-B then work part time for some ambulance company to help pay for school to get to EMT-P. Once 2015 comes around they will be able to get the AD and go to work to pay for the EMT-B…”
Joseph Unis is the newly appointed executive director of NRAD. He offers one other insight to the new AD certification.
“I worked as a Firefighter/Paramedic and have a fire science degree. As a fire science student we took a class called Driver/Pump Operator. In that class we had to learn to drive a fire apparatus on a driving course. In our EMS classes we did not have any real driving training. So now we are creating a new level of training to address this issue.”
NRAD is in the process of publishing their training standards. They are also working with various colleges and training centers to establish a standard driving course and scoring criteria. Mr. Unis assured us that all materials would be out so that by this time next year only certified ambulance drivers will be operating rigs on the road.
