Broome Community College, in affiliation with Lourdes Hospital and United Health Services, offers a two-year A.A.S. Degree in Emergency Medical Technology/Paramedic. This rigorous program follows the new national standard curriculum released by the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration (NHTSA) in 1998. This curriculum represents the highest level of education in EMS pre-hospital training. Nationally, average starting paramedic salaries were $32,872 with an average top salary of $42,900 in 2003.

The program requires a minimum of 600 classroom hours, 560 hospital clinical hours and 440 hours of ambulance ride time broken into four phases. The minimum number of hours presumes that the student has completed an adequate number of acceptable ambulance calls in specific patient categories, such as difficulty breathing, chest pain, trauma to mention a few.

Clinical education, both in and out of hospital, represents the most important component of paramedic education, since this is where the student learns to synthesize cognitive and psychomotor skills. Ambulance ride time allows the student to apply his/her knowledge in field situations under the supervision of a paramedic preceptor. The field internship is the fourth and final phase of the ambulance ride time and is when the student is evaluated by a senior preceptor. Students are eligible to take paramedic certification exams upon completion of core paramedic curriculum.

Advanced standing is available for students who possess in-hospital or out of hospital advanced life support knowledge and skills.

Other than BIO 101, 131 and 132, other general education courses may be taken before, during or after the Core Paramedic courses. Given the very demanding nature of PMD 201, 202, 203 and 204 it is recommended that students pursuing the AAS degree complete general education requirements during their second year fall and spring semesters.