Message fom Gary Brown,Director OEMS
Dear Educator,
First, the Office of EMS would like to thank you for all you are doing for your communities and the Commonwealth during the current COVID-19 pandemic. We sincerely appreciate your dedication and steadfastness during these unprecedented times. We have gathered a number of pertinent items below to assist you in your role as an EMS educator in the Commonwealth.
Education Coordinator Certification Extensions
- Due to Executive Order 51 & 53, the Virginia Office of EMS will be extending the expiration dates for Education Coordinators with an expiration date of March 31, 2020, April 30, 2020, May 31, 2020 and June 30, 2020 until December 31, 2020.
- The Education Coordinator Update schedule can be found online at: http://www.vdh.virginia.gov/emergency-medical-services/ems-educator-update-schedule/
Expiration of Virginia EMS Provider Certifications
- Due to Executive Order 51 & 53, the Virginia Office of EMS will be extending the certification of all providers who are currently set to expire on May 31, 2020 and have not satisfied their continuing education requirements until August 31, 2020. These providers should be reminded of the plethora of online CE opportunities that are available to them.
- Online continuing education courses can be found at: http://www.vdh.virginia.gov/emergency-medical-services/education-certification/provider-resources/web-based-continuing-education/
Virginia Continuing Education
Based on the certification extensions granted under Governor Northam’s Executive Order 51 and the wide availability of Virginia approved online CE vendors and programs, the following guidance is provided:
- The Virginia Office of EMS will not be relaxing EMS Rules and Regulations or the Training Program Administration Manual (TPAM) policies for conducting, reporting and recordation of continuing education in the Commonwealth.
- Regulations and the Training Program Administration Manual do not permit conducting continuing education online via GoToMeeting, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Capterra, TeamViewer, Cisco Webex, Skype, Google Hangouts (or any other online/web-based meeting platform) and submit CE credits to Virginia for processing.
- Education Coordinators who transition portions of initial certification programs to online content are not permitted to award CE credits for Virginia EMS providers accessing this content.
- NEW – Nationally approved continuing education programs—for example ACLS, PALS, AMLS, PHTLS, PEPP, ITLS, ECP, etc.—that have relaxed their program requirements allowing content to be completed in a modified delivery format have been temporarily approved by the National Registry for continuing education credit and therefore the Office of EMS will also temporarily allow CE to be awarded for Virginia providers completing these programs until the Governor’s Executive Orders 51. 53. & 55 are lifted or allowed to expire.
Education Coordinator Candidate (Mentee) “Teaching Hours”
Based on action the Office took to extend the certification request expiration date for Education Coordinator Candidates (ECC) under Governor Northam’s Executive Order 51, the Virginia Office of EMS has determined that there is not a present need to relax regulatory requirements for the ECC program.
- All ECC required “teaching hours” must be taught in a face-to-face environment and an Education Coordinator above the 16th percentile must be present during the delivery of all content by the candidate.
Stay safe, remember social distancing and please wash your hands!