Download the National EMS Officer Competencies document

As part of the EMS Agenda for the Future, the National EMS Management Association determined that a clear set of leadership competencies would need to be created in order for EMS to grow as a profession. Over the past several years, this growing document has been created out of input from many professionals across the United States; each determined to help achieve the goal of one set of National EMS Officer Competencies. The competencies have been developed from a great deal of research, collaboration of information on leadership and EMS operations, countless hours of input from committee members, and the dedication of an industry ready to grow as a profession.

The concept started with a group of dedicated leaders who met at a national EMS stakeholder’s engagement in Las Vegas to discuss the framework for EMS Officer Competencies. Although many components have changed since that first discussion, some of the concepts and content from that original meaning are still a valuable part of the final document. Several years later, a second group of national EMS leaders met in Denver to propose three levels of EMS Officers to be adapted profession-wide and across the United States. Their work is also a valuable part of the final document presented here today.

Content from those initial meetings guided the efforts of the NEMSMA committee on EMS Officer Competencies as they evaluated and researched the best direction toward a final document that would meet and exceed the expectations of the EMS community. After many months of research, it was determined that several other key documents should be used to complete a set of competencies that not only outline core knowledge needed to perform well as an EMS officer but also identify the attributes of a successful leader and mentor within the EMS profession. Among the research was a document created by Central Michigan University, based on extensive research, outlining a competency model that broke down best practices in order to describe the key components of a successful leader. This framework was adopted by the NEMSMA committee and the combined research was synthesized with Bloom’s Taxonomy Scale for higher learners. The Bloom’s model allowed the committee to associate each attribute within this document with the job descriptions of EMS Officers at three assigned levels. Once the level on Bloom’s Taxonomy Scale was determined, the committee could create appropriate correlating leadership competencies for every attribute related to each level of EMS Officer.

In order to ensure that every competency was created fairly and presented accurately to the EMS community, a second set of NEMSMA committee members reviewed and commented on each of the competencies created.

Now, after many comments, revisions, layouts and edits, the final document can be presented to the EMS community for everyone across the country to use. Regardless of the size of the agency or the delivery model (volunteer, paid or combined clinical providers), these competencies are designed to benefit aspiring EMS officers, current EMS officers and the entire EMS profession.
NEMSMA hopes you find this document useful and that it helps your agency achieve superior EMS officers, outstanding EMS operations and positive patient outcomes for many years to come.

Download the National EMS Officer Competencies document