Sacramento State is the only CSU to have any kind of nurs- ing, basic EMT, and paramedic programs as an educational option for its students due to budget cuts.

These programs were started “as a result of funding challeng- es in Sacramento School district in 2009 and as a result of Sacra- mento State staff wanting to cre- ate a medical program here on campus,” said Katelyn Sandoval, the program manager of college of continuing education.

The College of Continuing Education provides two routes of routes of study depending on what a student is looking to achieve.

For the student that is look- ing to get basic medical training and then start working, the basic EMT program is the best route. This EMT program is a nine- week long course that educates students on the basic procedures and protocol of an EMT.

“After they pass this course, students

Photo By maya Frattini – State Hornet

will be required to take their licensing exam and if they pass that exam they are free to start working as an entry level EMT,” Sandoval said.

The program is usually uti- lized by students that want to be in, out and working because they have families to provide for or they just want to get a head start in the field, said Sandoval.

The second route a student can take is enrolling in the 12- 18 month long paramedic pro- gram. This program will guide students down the path of what it takes to become a paramedic. During this program, San- doval said students learn how to start IVs, administer fluids and check vital signs along with many other things that they would need to do on scene of an accident.

Many aspects of the EMT, paramedic and nursing program are unlike many other colleges in California.

All the programs within the Nursing program use what are

called concurrent care models. This means every student who comes out of this Sac State pro- gram will have the skills to work together with another nurse or doctor to provide necessary care for that patient.

A good aspect of this program is that students spend time in an actual nursing ward somewhere in Sacramento as part of the nursing program.

“Students spend time in specific wards so that they not only get experience but they are able to narrow down what kind of work they want to get into as nurses,” said Sandoval.

So each student gets in-depth, hand- on learning and experi- ence that will help them once they get a job. Throughout this program, each student is given a mentor that follows them from enrollment to graduation so that any help they may need, any one on one time that is needed to help a student under- stand everything before they go out into the real world is given.

Beth Jones can be reached at [email protected]