Continuing Education for EMS Licensure
Licensed providers in Oregon are required to complete a specified amount of continuing education (CE) hours each renewal cycle. This page serves as a resource to answer questions surrounding the requirements, documentation and where to find sources.
General Information
EMR licenses expire on June 30th of every even year.
EMT, AEMT, EMT-Intermediate and Paramedic licenses expire on June 30th of every odd year.
State Requirements for Continuing Education (Resource Documents)
Guidance Regarding the "Culture, Race, Gender and Ethnicity" Category
In 2019, the passage of Oregon House Bill 2021 and subsequent revisions to
Oregon Revised Statute (ORS) 676.850 and
Oregon Administrative Rule (OAR) 943-090 mandates all health professional regulatory boards to include cultural competence as an additional requirement for continuing education.
According to Oregon Administrative Rule (OAR) 943-090-0010(3), cultural competence is defined as:
"A life-long process of examining values and beliefs and developing and applying an inclusive approach to health care practice in a manner that recognizes the context and complexities of provider-patient communication and interaction and preserves the dignity of individuals, families and communities."
OHA-EMS and Trauma Systems will accept continuing education that represents any or all subjects related to this definition. Topics may include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Effective application of linguistic skills in cross-cultural communication
- Understanding of culture and ethnicity as a way to establish a positive therapeutic relationship
- Eliciting, understanding and applying cultural and ethnic data in the process of clinical care
- Unconscious and/or implicit bias; stigmas and/or discrimination as they relate to race, ethnicity, and/or gender identity
- Social determinants of health
- Disparities in health care unique to race, ethnicity, and/or gender identity
- Improving equity in medical care systems for diverse populations
The Oregon Health Authority lists a number of trainings that may be
accessed here for a fee.
Free CE Opportunity
JEMS Podcast: EMS Improv: Caring for Transgender Patients
Acceptable formats for obtaining this education are the same as all other categories of Appendix 1. For further details, click on the drop-down menu of this page titled, "Oregon Continuing Education Requirements".
EMTs, AEMTs, Paramedics
The initial licensing process for EMTs, AEMTs and paramedics will result in two separate credentials: an
NREMT certification and an
Oregon license.
An Oregon license is required to
practice. Maintaining an Oregon license requires completing continuing
education. Oregon honors current NREMT certification holders by waiving
some aspects of the continuing education requirements.
Please see the
Renewal of an EMS License and
NREMT in Oregon sections of this page for more information.
EMRs and EMT-Intermediates
The
initial licensing process EMRs and EMT-Intermediates generates only one
credential, which is an Oregon license. Providers must maintain their
license by completing continuing education. Please see the
Renewal of an EMS License section of this page for more information.
CE is prorated for EMRs and EMT-Intermediates between initial licensure and the next renewal cycle. Please refer to
Appendix 2 for this proration.
Appendix 2 (pdf) -
Minimum Continuing Education Requirements
for EMR and EMT-Intermediate when Initial Licensure is less than 24 month.
EMS providers are required to either:
- Complete all continuing education hours specified in
Appendix 1 OR
- Hold a current NREMT license at the level they are renewing
In addition, EMS providers are required to:
- Maintain a current AHA Basic Life Support (BLS) Provider or equivalent CPR card
Affiliated providers (working or volunteering
with an agency under a supervising physician) must complete Section 2 of
Appendix 1, the Clinical Skills Competencies. If a provider is not
affiliated, they can disregard Section 2.
There are many ways of obtaining CE during the two-year licensure cycle.
Hour for hour credit shall be granted for:
- Attending training seminars, educational conferences, and continuing education classes
- Attending a live, webinar, or interactive online course (you must be able to give, receive and discuss information in real time)
- Attend online continuing education that provides a certificate of completion and is approved by the CAPCE
- Attending
an accredited college course relating to medical and EMS-related topics
(must retain course syllabus- hour for credit hour granted)
- Teaching any topics listed in Appendix 1, if qualified to teach the subject
50%
of the total hours needed in each category of Appendix 1 (i.e. an EMR
may obtain 6 out of the 12 hours needed for renewal this way) may be
obtained by:
- Self-study of medical journals, video or other
media that is not CAPCE approved and is not facilitated by a live
instructor. These must be approved by an agency training officer or EMS
medical director
- Being a psychomotor skills examiner
OAR
333-265-0110
Continuing Education Requirements for License
Renewal
Appendix 1 (pdf) -
Minimum Continuing Education Requirements
Record Keeping
EMS
providers are required to keep all continuing education records for two
licensure cycles (four years). Please see the following rule for how
to properly document continuing education records
OAR
333-265-0140
Maintaining Continuing Education Records
NREMT CE requirements and renewal dates are different from Oregon EMS renewal dates. NREMT certifications expire on March 31st
of a given year. Oregon licenses for EMTs and above expire on June 30
of every odd year, regardless of the initial issue date. These licenses
must be maintained separately.
If you choose to maintain both an NREMT certificate and an
Oregon license, please be aware that the two entities have different CE
requirements. NREMT established a National Continued Competency Program
(NCCP), which includes three components: National (50%), Local (25%),
and Individual (25%) content. The OHA EMS & Trauma Systems Program
has not designated topics for the
Local component of the NCCP. The hours for this category
should be completed similarly to the Individual component of NCCP, where
the certificate holder chooses the EMS hours to study.
NREMT Website
Free Continuing Education:
-
Bound Tree University- free: CAPCE accredited courses for free. Self-paced recordings.
Oregon EMS Conferences:
-
Eastern Oregon EMS Conference:
-
Newport EMS Conference: typically takes place in April (Newport, OR)
-
State of Jefferson EMS Conference: typically takes place in March (Medford, OR)
-
Timberline EMS Conference: typically takes place in April of every odd year (Mt. Hood, OR)
-
Oregon EMS Conference: location varies
- Providence EMS Stroke and Heart Conference: typically takes place in late February