Translating field practice of an EMT to acute care practice: A 9-day training program to increase competency and decrease turnover

Abstract

Employee turnover can be directly related to the onboarding process which can cost upwards of $50,000 per employee. In 2017, turnover rates for EMTs at this network system were at 50% and there was a lack of role clarity and expectations. In the state of Ohio, there are also four different pre-hospital competency levels for EMTs, these include the emergency medical responder (EMR), basic EMT (BEMT), advanced EMT (AEMT), and Paramedic. Furthermore, the organization expanded quickly over the last 5 years, growing from 2 emergency departments to 12. This compounded the need to review the onboarding process. The objective was to provide an innovative training program for emergency medical technicians (EMT) to translate knowledge and competency from the field to the acute care setting while decreasing turnover.