Holland College’s Advanced Care Paramedicine Distributed Learning program has received accreditation from the Canadian Medical Association.

The program, which was designed to allow primary care paramedics to pursue the Advanced Care credential while remaining in their home communities and continuing to work in the field, received a two-year accreditation in 2010, the maximum accreditation permitted for new programs. The program now has the same six-year accreditation as the college’s Primary Care Paramedicine and Advanced Care Paramedicine programs.

Accreditation ensures students and prospective employers that the training received in these programs meets or exceeds national standards, enabling students to apply for national certifications and for positions across the country with confidence.

To become accredited, programs must comply with the CMA’s Requirements for Accreditation. Each program submits an assessment report, which is the program’s self-assessment of its compliance. A survey team comprised of three to five professionals, including a physician, practitioners and educators reviews the documentation to determine if it is sufficient evidence to warrant a site visit from the team to review additional documentation and to interview key participants.

“The paramedicine faculty and staff put a lot of work into the accreditation submission and are to be congratulated for this achievement,” said Rosemary White, program manager for Holland College’s Health and Community Studies department. “I believe that the ACP DL program demonstrates Holland College’s commitment to students and the industry to provide accessible programming for working paramedics in Atlantic Canada and beyond.”

For more information about paramedicine programs at Holland College, visit hollandcollege.com, e-mail info@hollandcollege.com or call 1-800-446-5265.

In this picture: (L-R) Learning manager Ryan MacIsaac discusses some of the skills Advanced Care Paramedicine students Anne Cummings and Hubert Dawe are practicing during one of their two week on site blocks of training while learning manager George Carragher looks on. Cummings, from New Glasgow, N.S. and Dawe, from Conception Bay South, Newfoundland, are enrolled in the ACP Distributed Learning program, which allows them to continue to work while they acquire their Advanced Paramedicine credential.