"Important step to permanently retain appropriate teaching staff in emergency medical services schools"

The city of Bocholt welcomes the cooperation with the University of Applied Sciences Münster in the further development of the course of studies "Vocational Pedagogy in Health Care" by the additional specialization in rescue services.

Thomas Deckers, Head of the Bocholt Fire Department: "I am very pleased that the Bocholt Fire Department and the City of Bocholt were able to participate in the development of the course and that the course is now the first in NRW to be offered at a public university. For our Fire and Rescue Service Academy, where the first state emergency paramedic examination in NRW was also held in 2014, the cooperation is extremely positive from a professional perspective. The establishment of the degree program is also a very important step towards obtaining suitable teaching staff in the rescue service schools on a permanent basis."

The press release from Münster UAS states:

According to the Emergency Paramedic Act, anyone who wants to teach both theory and practice at a recognized rescue service school needs a university qualification.

In the winter semester of 2022/23, the bachelor's degree program in professional pedagogy in health care at Münster UAS will start with the new specialization in emergency medical services. In developing the course, the Department of Health worked closely with the Bocholt Fire Department and is offering it in cooperation. The place of learning will be both Münster UAS and the Fire and Rescue Service Academy in Bocholt. This makes the course a first sub-project of the university's planned study location in Bocholt. There is no other state university in North Rhine-Westphalia offering such a study program in a comparable form, and only a few universities in Germany.

The Department of Health already offers the bachelor's degree in vocational education with
the specialties of therapy and nursing, the direction of rescue will
now form the third pillar. Prof. Dr. Thomas Prescher from Münster University of Applied Sciences will be in charge of the course. The bachelor's degree is aimed at trained emergency paramedics and teachers at rescue service schools.

All students have common seminars in Münster such as adult education and reference sciences such as psychology. The specialist modules on rescue and emergency medicine take place at the Fire and Rescue Service Academy in Bocholt. "Simulation-based learning and teaching are important components of the bachelor's degree. For example, students practice on training ambulances equipped with cameras and have to design and conduct learning scenarios in them," says project manager Markus Münch from Münster UAS. Much emphasis is also placed on two practical phases in which students test their teaching skills in companies. "For example, a teaching sequence in a rescue service school or a first aid course at adult education center can be prepared and implemented," says Münch.

With the course of study, the cooperation partners are reacting to the changed legal situation - Münch explains, "The amendment to the Emergency Paramedic Act came into force in 2014. The rescue service schools are allowed to offer training for emergency paramedics if the teaching staff and management have completed appropriate university training for this. As a result, there is an increased need to qualify professionals for this role and to retrofit those already practicing as teachers."

On the subject: On Monday (March 14), interested parties can find out more about the degree program with a specialization in rescue services at an online information event from 3 to 4 p.m. and exchange information with the head of the degree program and other contact persons from the Department of Health as well as the fire department and the Fire and Rescue Service Academy in Bocholt. All information and registration until March 11 can be found at fh.ms/InfotagRettung.