El Centro College offers a Paramedic certificate program for college credit in cooperation with UT Southwestern Medical Center.
The Paramedic certificate program takes approximately six and a half months to complete (34 to 42 credit hours) and is designed to prepare you to provide advanced prehospital care to emergency patients. Courses include classroom instruction, hospital rotations with emphasis on emergency department experience and emergency ambulance experience.
The Paramedic program will prepare you to function in an advanced life-support capacity with invasive skills such as:
- intravenous initiation
- external jugular cannulation
- endotracheal intubation
- drug administration by various routes
- intraosseous infusions
- electrocardiogram (ECG) rhythm identification
- 12-lead ECG
- defibrillation and cardioversion
- noninvasive cardiac pacing and chest decompression
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How to Get Started
Prerequisites
To enroll, you must have completed previous EMT training (EMT-basic) and have an adequate background in anatomy and physiology as verified by transcripted anatomy and physiology coursework, or by successfully passing the anatomy/physiology class administered by the UT Southwestern Emergency Medicine Education Division. Call 214-648-5246 for more information regarding this course.
Students who complete the first semester of the Paramedic program are awarded college credit for EMT and anatomy/physiology classes if completed through UT Southwestern. Candidates therefore receive 42 hours of college credit from El Centro College for the Paramedic program if they complete EMT and anatomy/physiology classes at UT Southwestern, or 34 hours without those classes.
Admission Requirements
To apply for entrance to the Paramedic certificate program, you must:
- Be a high school graduate or successfully complete the General Education Development (GED) test
- Achieve minimum scores on reading comprehension and mathematics assessment testing
- Complete an EMT course (see requirements)
- Complete hepatitis B series vaccination (all three shots) and additional immunizations
- Submit a complete application packet by the application cut-off date. Download the Paramedic program application form (PDF - 109KB).
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Acceptance to the Paramedic Program
Priority acceptance is given to area EMS agency personnel. Other applicants are accepted to the program after those agency needs are met, typically allowing eight to 15 spaces for non-EMS-employed individuals.
Acceptance is on a priority basis for the following applicants:
- Employees of EMS services and fire departments of the city of Dallas and surrounding 14 suburbs that have a contractual relationship with the program to provide medical direction and continuing education
- Employees of other counties providing 911 emergency services
- Individuals who have no affiliation with EMS agencies
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See our employer-recommended guidelines.
Application Process
Applications for the Paramedic program are typically due four months prior to the beginning class date. If you are accepted for an interview, you will be notified approximately two to three weeks after the application deadline. After interviewing, we’ll send you an acceptance notice two to three weeks later.
If you are accepted to the Paramedic program and have not taken anatomy and physiology, you will automatically be scheduled for that class. If you do not pass anatomy and physiology, you will forfeit your space in the Paramedic class.
Once you have been accepted into the Paramedic program, you must complete additional paperwork such as immunizations, physical exam, drug screening and a criminal background check. Information on these forms will be mailed with the acceptance letter.
The UT Southwestern Web site has additional information on assessment testing, retesting, program curriculum, expenses and more.
Tuition
Dallas County residents pay $117 per three-hour class at DCCCD — that’s $39 per credit hour, or less than $500 for a full semester load of 12 credit hours. Compare that to what you’d pay elsewhere! See DCCCD tuition rates for tuition according to your place of residency.
Students in the Paramedic program pay tuition to El Centro College, a registration fee to UT Southwestern and various other fees (including fees for Texas Department of State Health Services registration and National Registry of EMTs testing). See the tuition chart on UT Southwestern’s general information page for complete fee and tuition information.
El Centro College tuition is waived for individuals employed by a fire department.
Faculty Profiles
Our faculty members not only have relevant academic degrees and advanced certifications; they also have real-world experience that enables them to relate to the challenges you’ll face on the job. Our instructors work closely with you one-on-one, encouraging you and helping you to succeed in your education and career. See profiles of our Paramedic faculty members.
Accreditation
The Paramedic program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP) in conjunction with the Committee on Accreditation for Educational Programs for the EMS Profession. Graduates will complete requirements for Texas Department of State Health Services EMT-paramedic certification, which includes the National Registry of EMTs (NREMT) examination.
Program Location
All paramedic classes are held at UT Southwestern’s Exchange Park campus, located at 6300 Harry Hines Blvd. in the basement of the Chase Bank building. Hospital rotations are held at Parkland Health and Hospital Systems, located at 5201 Harry Hines Blvd., as well as Children’s Medical Center and other local hospitals.
EMT Program for Continuing Education Credit
El Centro College and UTSW Medical also cooperatively offer an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) program for noncredit continuing education units.
Noncredit EMT classes consist of 21 days spent in the classroom (7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Monday through Friday), followed by hospital and ambulance rotations and the Texas Department of Health skills proficiency verification.
The EMT course includes instruction in basic life support, such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation, automatic external defibrillation, physical assessment, bandaging and splinting, traction splinting, spinal immobilization, airway management, oxygen therapy and other noninvasive procedures.
Hospital and ambulance rotations consist of one 24-hour shift on a Dallas Fire Department mobile intensive care unit (MICU); and five 8-hour shifts in Parkland Hospital’s emergency department and labor and delivery, and Children's Medical Center emergency department. The NREMT exam will be administered following the last day of class. This class does not offer college credit hours.
For More Information
Go to UT Southwestern’s Web page on Emergency Medicine Education for more information on the credit Paramedic certificate program and noncredit EMT program.
The UT Southwestern Web site also has answers to frequently asked questions and more information about continuing education courses in Emergency Medicine Education.