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The National Standard Curriculum has been designed by the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) in such a way that, students undergo rigorous training in all aspects of emergency services. The curriculum consists of the following modules:

The first module is the ‘Preparatory’ module. This module introduces the student to the basics of emergency services such as the responsibilities of the EMT-B, legalities and ethics involved in medical care. Also, it includes irreplaceable aspects of in-field services such as preserving the safety of the scene, body substance isolation etc. By the end of this module, students are also expected to be able to recognize the vital signs of life and to know the basic techniques of lifting and shifting patients along with the necessary equipment.

The second module is the ‘Airway’ module and involves studying the details of airway and understanding how to avoid blockades in the airway and pulmonary resuscitation. They also learn about the differences in treating infants and adults and using suction, delivery and oxygen equipments.

The third module, called the ‘Patient assessment’ module, concentrates on increasing the student’s ability to study a scene and look for possible hazards, estimate if additional assistance is required and form a preliminary opinion on the mechanism or nature of illness. It also teaches the students to form a generic theory by determining responsiveness and assessing the airway, respiration and blood circulation and assign priorities for treatment. In this phase, students learn to collect necessary information from the patient’s history and performing ongoing assessment by documenting variations in the patient’s conditions, communicating those using different media.