EMT-B Certification Course
Northwestern University's
EMT-B certification.
Northwestern's only student-run, EMT-B certification course. Two quarters long, and a direct line into emergency medicine.
Northwestern's only student-run, EMT-B certification course. Two quarters long, and a direct line into emergency medicine.
NEMO's annual EMT-Basic course is the largest student-run pre-clinical training program at Northwestern. We partner with MedEx Ambulance Service — a state-licensed EMS provider — to deliver the same Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) approved curriculum that anchors paid commercial programs across the Chicago area.
The course runs across Winter and Spring quarters. Lectures, hands-on skills sessions, simulation labs, and clinical rotations are scheduled around academic loads. By the time students sit for the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians (NREMT) cognitive and psychomotor exams in late spring, they've logged the lecture hours, clinical hours, and competency check-offs required for state and national licensure.
For anyone who wants to make an impact in their community, this is one of the cheapest and most accessible routes into meaningful clinical exposure that actually counts on an application.
Tuesday lectures on Zoom, Sunday skills sessions in person, and optional Wednesday office hours. Each block builds on the last — foundations to assessment to medical to trauma to operations, with three written exams and a psychomotor final spaced across the term.
Intro to EMS, well-being, lifting and moving, medical terminology, anatomy, pathophysiology, and the medical-legal frame.
Scene size-up, primary survey, vital signs, history-taking, communication and documentation.
Airway management, oxygen delivery, BVM and adjuncts, respiratory emergencies, CPAP and nebulizer use.
Diabetic emergencies and altered mental status, allergic reactions and anaphylaxis, infectious disease and sepsis.
Hematologic and renal emergencies, hemorrhage control, soft-tissue trauma, Stop The Bleed.
Cardiac emergencies, resuscitation, secondary assessment and reassessment, general pharmacology.
Poisoning and overdose (including IN Narcan), abdominal emergencies, behavioral and psychiatric calls, de-escalation.
Chest and abdominal trauma, musculoskeletal injuries, head and spine, splinting, c-spine immobilization, extrication.
Multisystem trauma, environmental emergencies, OB/GYN and delivery, pediatric and geriatric considerations.
Patients with special challenges, hazmat and MCIs, JUMP/START triage in a mass casualty drill.
Highway safety, vehicle operations, EMS response to terrorism, system-level decision-making.
Final written exam, skills exam, three nights of psychomotor testing. NREMT sign-up and licensing.
Private EMT programs in the Chicago area run between $1,800 and $2,400. We've worked extensively with the student government at Northwestern and MedEx to bring that cost to $600. We teach the same IDPH-approved curriculum, with the same NREMT exam at the end — because NEMO takes no margin and outside funding offsets infrastructure costs.
Applications open in fall quarter. Capacity is 150 seats.
Questions about the course, the application, an upcoming class — anything. A member of the executive board will get back to you.
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