CALLING ALL ACES! We want your agency to have a protocol instructor.
Could this be you?
My answer is YES, we want you!!! I don’t think I was emphatic enough. YES, WE WANT YOU!!! Was that better?!
Now, there are some things to discuss; the first step is to review the requirements on https://emergencydispatch.org/what-we-do/instructors and see if you or someone else in your agency qualifies. If you meet the qualifications, please gather the required documentation and APPLY. You can apply using the link mentioned in this paragraph and it will come directly to me.
We only take instructor applications for EMD and EFD from Accredited Centers of Excellence (ACEs). That means a very small group meets these requirements.
There are two types of instructors:
- In-house: The instructor teaches exclusively for their agency. All medical and fire instructors typically start out in-house so they can gain some experience, and we can evaluate their performance.
- Regional: The instructor can teach anywhere the protocol language they are trained in is taught.
Because medical and fire instructors come from an ACE, it is important for our ACEs to be on high alert for potential candidates and to support their development in becoming instructors. There are many benefits for an ACE to have their own instructor including:
- The agency knows the instructor, their quality, their background, and their level of instruction. You know what you are getting, every time.
- The instructor knows the agency, their background, their policies/procedures, the culture, and how things work. They are also better equipped to answer questions about agency-specific policy within the protocol system they are teaching.
- The agency has an in-house subject matter expert for staff and management to turn to who is also up to date on Academy and PDC™ processes. The person is also the first to know when major changes are being released.
- The instructor is updated to new curriculum prior to it being released, meaning the agency has someone who can assist and guide them through the release of a new protocol version.
- The agency has flexibility in how they want their course set up; maybe an agency doesn’t want an EMD course scheduled for the normal three days or their EFD course in the normal two-day period. Guess what? The agency can extend their course for an additional day or two. The agency also has the flexibility to break up the course modules to better fit their training schedule.
- The agency has an instructor who can assist in continuing dispatch education and provide focused training, coaching, remediation, performance improvement, etc.
- An in-house course can be set up with less lead time through Course Coordination because it does not have to be advertised and filled prior to starting.
- There are no student minimums for your course.
Due to normal attrition and the continuously increasing number of courses being taught from year to year—especially with the addition of remote courses, which has allowed our courses to reach past previous limits—we need our ACEs to keep that pipeline of new instructors moving. No one likes a clogged pipe, right?
Our ACEs are not just the leaders of this industry, but they also produce the best instructors because these instructors come from that background of knowing not only how to use protocol, but how to use it best. ACEs are role models for other agencies to look to for assistance, mentoring, and guidance, and we need our ACEs to hold the line for our instructors.
ACEs and qualified instructors, I want to hear from you! Let’s talk and see how we can help you develop and obtain your very own instructor! Email or call me; let’s talk. Eric.fayad@emergencydispatch.org or (385) 799-5889.
