how long does it take to become a paramedic

Pathways to becoming a medic/Paramedic

A step by step guide for beginners.

Did you know that it's possible to become a pre-hospital emergency health care medic in around 12 months if you really put your mind to it? Of course, that seems like a very short time frame to get the qualifications, so let's see how this can be possible.

Before we begin, if your goal is to become a registered Ambulance Paramedic/Officer, the time frames are longer. Find out about the pathway to becoming a Paramedic via university.

Learn how to become a Basic Life Support Medic/First Responder in just 12-18 months

Is your true purpose to help people, make a difference and give something back to your community?

Have you always wanted to work in a fast-paced environment where every day is never the same as the last?

Let us help you to decide whether a career as a Basic Life Support Medic in the private sector or an Ambulance Paramedic is right for you.

It's quite common to think you must spend $1000's and precious years of your life studying at a university to gain the qualifications to work as a medic or Paramedic. Whilst some of that is true (the Paramedic bit), there are other pathways to get you into the pre-hospital emergency health care industry sooner.

Paramedic qualifications

The world is changing rapidly and the out-of-hospital emergency response (pre-hospital) profession is evolving with it. It's important that education and higher-education institutions adjust their curriculum to prepare graduates for what lies ahead.

When it comes to paramedic training and how to become a paramedic, the Australia Paramedical College has developed its paramedic courses to align with these changes. It's not enough these days just to possess the clinical skills to recognise, diagnose and treat a patient – there is so much more to learn.

As you would well have heard via the media, Paramedics are being equipped to deal with increasing emotional and mental health aspects of the job, as well as being prepared to handle the increase in drug-related call-outs.

Critical thinking, as well as highly developed communication, emotional intelligence, critical thinking and leadership skills, coupled with a high-level understanding of technology, are highlighted as some of the core requirements for the new breed of Paramedic.

Emotional intelligence and communication skills are rapidly becoming an indicator of career success. As well as dealing with patients, during any given day, a Paramedic will interact with a wide array of hospital staff, doctors, nurses, assistants, clinicians, other emergency workers (firemen, police etc) and the general public. This is where your additional powers of negotiation, scene awareness, body language and the right mix off asserting yourself pays off.

We also live in a multicultural society where empathy and acceptance of other people's beliefs and cultural values affect the outcomes a situation you will be called to attend to. Being prepared for this is part of the learning culture of the Australian Paramedical College.

Private sector jobs

Become a Patient Transport Officer.

Patient transport demand is increasing across Australia. Victoria is leading the way with private companies providing patient transport services to government-run ambulance services. We are seeing this trend move into NSW as well as QLD. In South Australia and Western Australia, St John's Ambulance are the preferred government contractor who provide emergency paramedic services as well as patient transport.

Patient transport is a great way to start your career in the sector. The knowledge required to achieve the HLT31120 – Certificate III in Non-emergency Patient Transport will not stretch most people's abilities. The Certificate III can be completed online in around 12 months – with a requirement to attend a 3 day clinical workshop and driver tuition training at a campus in NSW, VIC and QLD. There is no requirement to complete clinical placement. or work experience.

Become a Basic Life Support medic/Patient Transport Officer.

Another entry-level qualification is the HLT41120 – Certificate IV in Health Care. This Nationally Recognised qualification will provide you with the training and skills you need to become a Basic Life Support Medic. At this level, you can find work in the private sector as a paid/volunteer medic at a range of events, sports meetings, public gatherings, transport and tourism sectors. Average courses completion time is 12-18 months with 1 block of 7 day clinical workshops in NSW, VIC or QLD (WA soon) and 80 hours of clinical placement.

Achieve the highest qualification before going to university

For those who wish to develop their pre-hospital emergency response skills further, the HLT51020 – Diploma of Emergency Health Care is the essential qualification and provides a pathway into university where a degree is now required to become an Ambulance Paramedic and to legally use the term 'Paramedic' to describe your job role.

Average course completion time for the Diploma is 18-24 months, with 1 x 7 day and 1 x 5 day clinical workshop and clinical placement hours are also a requirement (work experience). You may even qualify for recognised prior learning (RPL) if you have already attained some form of qualification in a related health field.

Gain valuable experience whilst studying

There is no substitute for experience, especially when it comes to applying for your first paramedic/medic job. The appeal of studying pre-hospital emergency health care qualifications is the online learning component, which counts for over 90% of the course curriculum. This means you can keep on working whilst studying and work towards these qualifications in your spare time. Just a few hours a week study can mean you could change your life in under a year.

With the right training, a positive mind-set and the necessary experience and job support you too can reach your dreams of becoming a State Ambulance Paramedic or Medic in the private sector sooner than you ever thought possible.

Paramedic/Medic employment opportunities

When you've graduated, knowing where to look for the jobs is just as important as having the qualification. One of the best tips, as we discussed earlier is to volunteer your services with local providers. This is the perfect opportunity to grow your network of connections, meet new people and make a name for yourself.

For private sector medics, Cert III, Cert IV and Diploma qualified, the mining sector, heavy construction and oil and gas industries are constantly in need of trained medics/Paramedics. You can often earn a good salary ($100,000+) whilst working in remote mining locations as a FIFO medic. It's here you'll gain valuable experience which will provide you with even more opportunities to do meaningful work down the track.

At Australian Paramedical College we help our students and graduates to find work. We make paramedic job searching so much easier by adding dozens of paramedic jobs to our website every month.

A quick look and you will discover that there are opportunities in a wide variety of paramedic fields and in states all across Australia. Visit our Paramedic Jobs Board Now.

You'll also find a host of jobs on the popular jobs boards like SEEK, Indeed, Jora, Career One and Adzuna.

We're confident we can deliver the up-to-date paramedic training you need to develop a good career as a Medic/Paramedic. We offer Nationally recognised paramedic qualifications which are accepted by most universities.

If you want to learn more about how you can work in the pre-hospital health care sector in just 12 months, call the Australian Paramedical College and speak to a paramedic career specialist today on 1300 377 741.

Paramedic Career Pathway Plan

If you're still not sure whether a career in emergency health care is right for you, or you're still a little concerned you don't have the time, money or confidence to begin to study, then take a few minutes to tell us about yourself and your current situation and what type of job you're looking for – we'll show you how to get there.

A step-by-step guide and a clearly laid out plan to develop a long and rewarding career helping people, making a difference and of course saving lives.

The Australian Paramedical College is the largest pre-hospital emergency health care training provider in Australia. As such – we help people from all over Australia to gain the essential, Nationally Recognised qualifications to allow them to work in emergency response roles.