The 2026 Educator: Beyond the Textbook
– By #School of EMS
The “Ten Attributes and Skills” of an EMS Educator are a foundational pillar of the 2002 EMS Instructor guidelines created by NHTSA. It is a crucial piece of every EMS Instructor course. This article will focus on the first one: “Understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the discipline(s) they teach and can create learning experiences that make these aspects of subject matter meaningful for the adult learner.”
There is a lot to unpack in that one sentence! The modern EMS educator must prepare their students for the ethical, scientific, and even political landscape of 2026 and beyond. Here are some ways to do just that:
- They Don’t Need to Be a Great Paramedic, Just Good Enough to Communicate the Nuances.
- “Those who can’t do, teach” isn’t exactly true – the better phrase is “Those who can’t do well, might still be able to teach well.” Jokes aside, a great instructor must be able to bridge the gap between theory and execution.
- Is the student continually missing hand IVs? A great instructor should have seen this a few times before, and be able to suggest a new technique, a new way of pulling traction, or a different angle of entry.
- They Should Be Experienced Enough to Create Realistic, Meaningful Scenarios.
- A war story about the time they treated a broken hip in the bathroom at 3 am is fine, but the real value is in teaching complexity.
- A war story about the time the patient’s wife had an MI while watching EMS treat her husband’s broken hip (after giving the fentanyl and thus creating a second ALS patient)… ok that one actually did happen to me. But this scenario is one that allowed me to speak about the real-life situations that may occur, as they may find themselves as the only paramedic on scene with two unstable patients and no second unit nearby!
- They Must Be Relevant.
- This doesn’t mean trying to replicate the latest viral trend in class, but it does mean keeping up with the latest scientific evidence and current industry trends – even if those trends don’t seem to match up with the science.
- An instructor should be able to explain why there is still a debate about long spine boards, or why some services still require high flow oxygen on every trauma patient. I recently spoke to a physician who was “uncomfortable with paramedics starting IVs, and should just bring them to the hospital.” Progress is tough, sometimes.
- Speaking of Debates, They Must Provide Both "Sides" to Their Students.
- It’s easy to take the side you agree with; the challenge is providing a fair opportunity to the other one. For example, should paramedics bypass the closest hospital to go to the “better” option (the patient’s choice, where their physician goes, where their insurance is accepted, where their records are, etc.)?
- A great instructor can present both sides in an unbiased manner, and even challenge students’ opinions no matter their position.
- They Can Create Analogies.
- Everyone likes analogies. The best part is that they don’t even have to be “technically” correct, they just have to help the student remember a concept.
- My favorite analogy was to think of anaphylaxis as an overflowing faucet. Diphenhydramine is the cup you use to get the water out of the sink, but epinephrine will turn off the water.
- They Know When Material is Inaccurate.
- Let’s face it, learning material can be wrong. Either because something got past the textbook editors, a quiz question was keyed incorrectly, or the science has evolved. A great instructor will be able to identify and correct these, rather than ignoring them (or worst, trying to justify them!)
- They actually enjoy teaching!
- Students, especially EMS students, have some of the most refined “BS Meters” on the planet. They can tell when an instructor is mailing it in, or just waiting out retirement. An instructor who enjoys teaching, and enjoys the profession will leave an indelible mark in their students minds for generations to come.
The 2002 NHTSA guidelines established that a great EMS Instructor must "understand the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the discipline."
Two decades later, this mandate demands more than simple competence – it requires critical thinking. We live in a world where medical directors disagree on protocols, industry experts openly disagree with things once considered dogma, and our paychecks often come from a combination of government funding and insurance payments – both of which are subject to changing political times. The EMS instructor in 2026 must be willing to teach the shades of gray that will dominate their upcoming careers.
About the author: Dr. Robert Stanley is a third-generation paramedic and lover of EMS research. He completed his master’s in public health with a thesis about EMS injury prevention, and his Doctor of Philosophy with a dissertation about online workforce education.
If you have a specific topic you would like to see covered in a future column, please contact me at rstanley@schoolofems.org.
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