504 EMERGENCY MEDICAL TECHNICIANS AND TECHNICIAN/PARAMEDICS

504.1 The Mayor shall, with the assistance of the District Advisory Committee on Emergency Medical Services, establish certifying requirements for emergency medical technicians designed to ensure that they possess the requisite character qualifications, skills, health, and maturity to provide care for the persons they serve.504.2 The Mayor shall require each applicant for a certificate as an emergency medical technician to provide evidence, in a form acceptable to the Mayor, that the applicant is free from addiction to narcotics or alcoholic beverages and from physical or mental defects or diseases that would impair the applicant's ability to provide emergency care for persons transported by ambulance.504.3 The Mayor shall require each certified emergency medical technician to obtain a physical examination at least annually and to report the results of the examination on a form satisfactory to the Mayor.504.4 No person shall be certified to serve as an emergency medical technician who has not attained his or her eighteenth (18th) birthday.504.5 The Mayor shall require each applicant for a certificate as an emergency medical technician to pass a written and practical examination demonstrating satisfactory completion of a course of study no less stringent than the 'Basic Training Program for Emergency Medical Technicians-Ambulance,' published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of the United States Department of Transportation.504.6 No emergency medical technician's certificate shall be granted for more than two (2) years.504.7 The training and continuing education requirements between certification and recertification shall include the following:- (a) Cardio-pulmonary resuscitation ('CPR') recertification and twenty-four (24) hours of continuing education within the first year; and

- (b) CPR recertification, twenty-four (24) hours of continuing education, and a twenty-four (24) hour refresher course within the second year.504.8 Recertification shall be granted only upon successful completion of a recertification examination approved by the Mayor.504.9 No emergency medical technician certificate may be assigned or transferred.504.10 [Delete].504.11 The Mayor, on or before October 28, 1977, shall with the assistance of the District Advisory Committee for Emergency Medical Services promulgate rules and regulations establishing standards and procedures for the certification of emergency medical technician/intermediate paramedics.504.12 The standards and procedures issued under §504.11 shall include the following:- (a) A requirement for the satisfactory completion of a training course in emergency care approved by the EMS Advisory Committee, consisting of not less than one hundred (100) hours of classroom and practical instruction, including, but not limited, to, instruction in the following:

1. (1) All phases of basic life support; and
2. (2) The administration of drugs and intravenous solutions under the written or oral communication, either directly or via telecommunication, of a licensed physician;- (b) A requirement for the initial and the continual determination of skills through oral, written, and practical examinations;
3. (c) Provisions prescribing the life support services that may be provided by emergency medical technician/intermediate paramedics, including those services which require the supervision by telecommunication of a licensed physician;
4. (d) Provisions for the continuity of emergency medical care and assistance across state borders, including a provision for the reciprocal recognition of medical personnel certified or licensed by other jurisdictions; Provided, that this section shall not be construed to allow these personnel to perform any services which they are not licensed or certified by the parent jurisdiction to perform; and
5. (e) Provisions for the renewal, denial, suspension, and revocation of certification; provided, that an examination for the renewal of the certification of an emergency medical technician/intermediate paramedic shall be required at least every twenty-four (24) months.504.13 No applicant may be certified as an emergency medical technician/ intermediate paramedic unless the applicant has satisfied all conditions for certification as an emergency medical technician as required under this section.504.14 During the practical portion of the training program specified in §504.12, the emergency medical technician/intermediate paramedic trainee shall be supervised continuously by a physician or by a registered nurse.

SOURCE: Rules of the Board of Public Welfare issued July 28, 1950; as amended on September 29, 1950; and by Final Rulemaking published at 45 DCR 8542 (December 4, 1998).