Ems Training Institute

I sent my employee there for a last minute initial PALS class. I needed to get my employee certified right away and EMS institute happened to have a 1 day class available that weekend. I paid for the PALS class and PALS book on Wednesday evening and the class was on Sunday. Mark, the director, called me to tell me that my employee either needed to pick up the book or have it shipped to him so that he could do the pre-​course assessment and present it upon arrival. Being a travel nurse in between assignments, my employee was in the process of moving from one city to another that weekend. He could not have the book shipped because he didn’t have an address to ship it to where he would be and he could not pick it up because he was a 2 hour drive away. I called EMS institute and explained this to Haley, a customer service representative. I then asked if Haley could open his book (THAT WE ALREADY PURCHASED) to give him the passcode to do the pre-​course assessment. She said that the director, Mark, would not allow that due to AHA Guidelines, even though technically owned the book. I let Haley know that he cannot have the book shipped or pick it up, but I will make sure that he has the pre-​course assessment done before class and she said that would be fine.
I had my employee complete the precourse assessment through the AHA website:
but with a different passcode, which he did successfully. And by the way, the pre-​course assessment is supposed to be advantageous for the student to make sure they are prepared for the class.. . Not used as a technicality against them and to prevent them from learning. ANYWAY, when my employee arrived to class on Sunday with his passing pre-​couse assessment, he was advised by the director, Mark, that he could not be admitted into class because he did not use the password from the book. . which Mark only knows that because the book was not shipped nor picked up beforehand. I spoke with Mark over the phone to figure out why my employee wasn’t let in the class and Mark said that the pre-​course assessment was not the same as what is in the book. I asked him if it’s different than the other precourse assessments that were presented by the other students and he returned back to the point that my employee did not use the password from the book and that we weren’t following AHA guidelines. He also mentioned that the passcode used could be fraudulent. AGAIN, the precourse assessment is to help prepare the student for the class. If it was a fraudulent pre-​course assessment, than the student could be setting himself up for failure. No one is trying to hack the system or do any tricks. All he wanted was to learn and get his PALS card.
I asked for a refund since my employee came PREPARED and ON-​TIME and Mark quickly said NO. I asked if he can provide us with the code to do AHA PALS Heartcode part 1 online which costs $ 120 (since the next PALS class wasn’t until June). He said it wouldn’t be possible to absorb that fee for us, yet he had no problem absorbing $ 175 from me with nothing in exchange. Just 4 days prior, he didn’t even have thissale, yet he made it seem like he would be losing money if he purchased the Heartcode Key for us. His only offer was to provide a skills session, which is worthless without Heartcode Part I. That was the end of our transaction. I will never send another employee/​student there, nor recommend it to anyone unless you are desperate and in a time crunch. Who knows, maybe EMS Institute has excellent instructors that are very engaging, but my employee never had the opportunity to find out :/​
Finally, I looked up the AHA Program Administration Manual (PAM) to find out what guidelines we were breaking. Regarding the use of AHA materials it says:
«Textbook or Student Manual
Each student must have the current appropriate course textbook readily available for use before, during, and after the course. Textbooks are designed for individual use and are an integral part of the student’s education. Students may reuse their textbooks.»
My employee had a textbook for his individual use. No rules broken there! And regarding the pre-​course assessment:
«ACLS and PALS Precourse Self-​Assessments
To achieve the greatest benefit, participants in ACLS and PALS courses should complete an online precourse self-​assessment. The self assessment can be accessed through
. The access code is located inside the front cover of the appropriate Provider Manual for that course.»
So, yes, it does say that the access code is in the manual, however, I didn’t catch where its says you must use the code in your manual to do the precourse assessment, and by not doing so, will not be let in class.

Horrible experience with one of the skills testers when being asked questions. He was quite rude. These people think everything is a black and white scenario. I was here to learn & grow in the medical field. Not everyone is a full fledged EMT some of us have other careers & businesses to manage. Treat people with respect and people will come back. I will NEVER recommend this company to anyone.

Got my CPR/​AED Certification for Personal Training here. Great experience, nice instructors.

This place is always professional. I got my BLS and ACLS cert here. I love the staff because they make it fun and interesting, and they’re very insightful and helpful.

I’m writing this review, because I feel that it is a very accurate report of how the EMT class is. I’ll try to just mention the important stuff. So i took the accelerated program (13^th edition book), and let me tell you it is a lot of reading in a short time. It’s possible to do it though, and you will definitely have days where you don’t want to, but push through it. The course is upfront about cost and the fact that there will be other costs, so just expect that.

You really need to stay on top of everything…80% or better class grade is required and 80% or better on final is required also.
I recommend doing the extra credit from the CD the night before you quiz on those chapters, and not wait until the block test (even though it’s your choice). Do any and all extra credit offered… don’t take a chance that you might regret later.
For the medical shots required… make time after class and do it asap.
For the quizzes, don’t stress too much about bad grades, so long as your getting the material. A low quiz score or 2 or 3 isn’t that bad… if you have a pattern of consistent low marks, then you can be worried.
Focus on the blocks big time, they are a large part of your grade.
Pay attention in class and take notes… the taking notes part can be hard, but if you read you will be fine. This will help in case anything has changed protocol /​procedure wise.
All the teachers are good… i don’t care if people like certain teachers more or less, they all do their job well and if you pay attention, take them seriously (most of the time anyways lol), and read the book you will be fine.
Do notecards… it’s a must, plus when the time comes for the final, you will be glad you did.
Get a nice schedule going for your study habits… your studying is just as important as your sleep for this class.
Be active… don’t be a shy boring class, nobody likes that. Get out of your comfort zone and don’t be afraid to make mistakes.
Skills days you will learn to love… it was by far the fastest /​funnest way to learn for me.
Sometimes chapters get tough… Give respectful honest feedback, and the instructors will do their best to help you succeed.
For the final… my study group studied for 2 hours. You should know the material by now. Sleep is very important the night before this test, don’t stress it.
Skills testing… its confusing and tough and my class didn’t practice enough for it. Study the skills testing papers and learn them well. This way in class you can practice as if it were test day.
Other then that, just schedule you med clinicals (you need at least 10 patients per clinical) and then do your livescan and you will be fine.

Hey Mark,
Just wanted to give you a some info about the class.
The first day… simply mind blowing. The class content was fun and interesting but the practical knowledge you bring is why classroom training is so effective.
For the second day, Instructor John (Paramedic) was a wealth of information and a magnificent addition to the class. As a practicing paramedic and was hugely valueable to see that what we learn is directly applicable and being able to see first hand how a professional addresses complex issues like MegaCode is more than anyone could get out of a book or online course. Freaking awesome… I don’t understand why people would take classes at a college rather than your business. The cailbur of people you bring in is simply epic.
Despite all the horror and apprehension I have about testing and taking the class, the payoff is driving home with a shit eating grin on my face knowing that what I have learned from you makes a difference in life and to others.
For that… Thank you… There are very few words to describe the satisfaction I get from taking your classes but that is the best I can do… You, your staff and what you do is truly an inspiration to me, the people you train, the community, and as a dad, I would be proud if my kids could truly be an influence in the community as you and your school has been. You are personally responsible for teaching the next generation emergency care in the awesome wake of the internet, viral news and misinformation.
Anyway, I again just wanted to say thank you for the awesome experience and journey and I feel proud to be able mention you and your company as my trainer and a badge of honor.
Take care, and again thank you… Words cannot express my gratitude.

I give one star for my trainer
it was expensive for the course
took the class on a Wednesday.
today is Monday still waiting for my CPR card.
I recommend taking a CPR class on line, not here.

My husband and I were mistakenly registered for only ½ of our requirements to fulfill an adoption homestudy, rather than the combination class both First Aid and CPR. When I found out the class was only 3 hours I even double checked with the course manager, reading to her exactly what we needed because every other place I had checked out was 8 hours long, and she just chuckled and assured me that it really only needs to be 3 hours. I was stoked that we wouldn’t be wasting away on a Saturday.
Well, at the end of our class Friday night was when I realized this class did not include First aid. I asked the instructor, Genia, and she was very helpful and left a note about our concern and told us to sign up for the other half of the class, which would take place 2 weeks from then. At this point I didn’t realize we would be short 50 $ by not doing the combo class and books.
I called this week to sign up for the rest of the class and that is when it was apparent to me that we would be losing money over their mistake. I then called to speak with the director, Mark Komins, and he was extremely difficult to talk to. What started as a simple miscommunication over the phone between the course manager Ashley and I ended in the director, Mark, being extremely defensive and insinuating it was our fault (the customers) over his employee. It became one of those «she said/​she said» debates which truly feels ridiculous to argue about when all we wanted was some sort of compensation for our wasted money and to be able to exchange our books for the combination books and price. After a couple emails back and forth he finally agreed to give us the class combination price, which is what we originally needed, but he huffed that it would be «costing him money.» Really? Is it not the responsibility of the institute to take a financial hit when they make a mistake? He was very rude and, like other reviewers mentioned, bad attitude. I’m not sure how he expects to run a business with his «customer is always wrong» model.
On another note, Genia, our instructor, was great and the class was enjoyable. That’s where the 2 stars come in.
Oh yeah, and at the beginning of all this, I asked if my husband and I could share a book. EMS training institute (Ashley, the course manager), told us the American Heart Association doesn’t allow that. Come to find out that’s a lie. Another company we called to take the other half of our course offered right off the bat that we could share a book. They are called Code 3 Life Support in Camarillo and they are very nice and not out to swindle you and take all of your money. We have not taken a class with them yet, but I highly recommend them over EMS based on their customer care alone.

I took the «Initial Emergency Medical Technician Course.» It was pretty expensive class. The class was $ 995 + $ 100 (Mandatory Background checks & Drug test) + $ 300 (Health appraisal & Immunizations & Vaccinations if you don’t have insurance) + $ 200 (Mandatory EMS Uniform) + $ 100 = ~$ 1700, this value doesn’t include any of the licensing fee’s after the class is completed.
ATTENDANCE is mandatory, and must be made up if a class is missed.
You have to achieve a minimum GPA of 75% in the class or else you get kicked out. You must also score at least a 75% on the 200 question cumulative Final exam (Which was no walk in the park). So you could get all the way to the end of the class with straight A’s, and still get kicked out of class if you score a 74% (or less) on the Final — which for me was pretty nerve-​racking. Not a single person in my class scored above a ‘B’ overall in the class. You can get SEVERAL points deducted if you forget to wear a wristwatch/​name-​tag on certain days. There are 41 quizzes (10 questions each), 4 exams (100 questions each), and a 200 question cumulative final exam. The exams are weighted-​down significantly more than the quizzes which for me was bad, because the quizzes gave me a false impression like I was doing better than expected. There are a couple extra-​credit opportunities though. There are also several physical skills exams which must be passed in order to graduate. 4 FEMA certifications must be completed also. If you want to get ahead in class, you must complete IS-100.b, IS-200.b, IS-700.a, IS-800.a (
)
I took the summer accelerated class which was hard to do. I quit my job just to keep up, but other people managed to pass with jobs/​family just fine. There is quite a bit of reading, which is important in order to grasp the material.
My instructors were Eric & Genia, who were nice. Janet substituted occasionally, and she seemed nice as well. Mark the owner isn’t the most approachable person. He can be very nice with students one day, and the next be pretty mean. He called me out on my background-​check in front of the class one day, and once heard him get into a nasty argument with a student from my class. Aside from that, he is a very prompt in replying to emails and such.
Overall the class was very informative. I was very pleased with how new all the equipment is. Also, I will update my review with how well prepared I was for the National EMT certification (NREMT) after I take it.

Took my online refresher course through EMS TI. It was very efficient to get through and the proctors during the on site skills testing were helpful in answering my questions about how to proceed with renewing my EMT B. They did their job well and failed me on a set of skills that I totally messed up. I had one second chance, as most skills test have, and made it the second time. It was a bit far for me to drive but I needed to renew quickly and they had the first available class.