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PMA has an established record of developing, implementing and delivering education suited to the individual needs of our clients. When the need arose for more cost-effective methods to deliver the Emergency Medical Responder to smaller rural communities, we were the first private training organization to have our EMR course developed and approved.

This allows our graduates to be registered health care practitioners, as well as to continue their education to the next level of care and one of our latest projects, the PCP Bridging Program. A large number of rural centers had contacted us regarding the ability to move from the EMR to PCP level with additional health services. The concern was access for their students to available education from the traditional institutions, and the need was echoed by Alberta Health to move toward a minimum BLS service in the province. In response we developed the PCP bridging program, again, another first since it is a bridging program for current EMR graduates. The program has been extremely well received by Alberta Health Services, and the ambulance services and hospitals we have worked with. We have contact students that completed the examination, as part of our on-going quality assurance program. Our students report they believe they were very well prepared for the examination, and this is echoed in comments from our ambulance and hospital preceptors. Almost all have reported they were successful on the provincial examination. This greater than 90% success rate demonstrates the commitment of our students, as well as the value of the delivery model we are utilizing.

Unlike traditional distance education and computer managed learning programs, we retain over 95% of our students through to graduation. This can be credited to our selection process as well as our constant interaction with the students to identify and assist weaker students without allowing them to fall behind. One of the most notable advantages of our program is that we are taking existing EMR practitioners working for EMR or BLS services and allowing them to cost-effectively upgrade to the PCP level without leaving their communities.

Again, in response to the needs of our clients, we have moved to develop a range of refresher programs, and assist in restriction removal through Labour Mobility. We continue to teach CPR, First Aid, Prehospital Trauma Life Support, Emergency Driving with the driving simulator as well as PEPP and GEMS. Response to the needs of our clients, as the cornerstone of our commitment to excellence, was the catalyst for the development of one of our latest programs, the ACP Completer Program. A large number of potential students have contacted us to express their desire to move to the ALS level, as well as to continue their employment within ALS services. By structuring pre-requisites to focus more on experience and aptitude for success, the length of the program can be reduced from the traditional 2 year delivery method into a more distant learning environment. The program allows students to retain current employment while completing the ACP program.

Provision of a rotational schedule of EMR or PCP refresher programs, CPR updates or other programs such as infectious disease are all examples of programs we are capable of assisting with. With development of a single program with delivery to a number of regions, substantial cost savings can be realized when compared with a number of individual programs attempting to achieve the same goals.

Professional Medical Associates are also available to make a more formal presentation regarding the benefits of outsourcing and centralizing training and continuing education needs. Our services include not only the development and delivery of training and continuing education programs, we also offer consulting and needs assessment services. Our vast EMS related backgrounds serve as a valuable resource to our clients and students. Often a number of programs may appear similar on the surface, and the only difference is costs. To solely utilize price as a deciding factor is akin to comparing apples and oranges when looking at delivery methods and rate of success of graduates from the various programs and in the Provincial Examination. We believe that when all aspects of our programs are taken into account, Professional Medical Associates remains a superior choice for prehospital education in the province. Our commitment is to provide cost-effective education of the highest quality.