Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Educational Administration
First Advisor
Donahoo, Saran
Abstract
The ongoing national shortage of paramedics presents a critical challenge for emergency medical services (EMS), placing immense pressure on agencies to maintain adequate staffing levels while meeting the growing demand for emergency response. Workforce attrition, increasing call volume, limited access to paramedic education, and high burnout rates have compounded this crisis, threatening the sustainability of EMS operations. This capstone examines strategies to improve paramedic student recruitment, training, and retention, with a focus on utilizing fire stations as satellite training campuses to expand access to education and workforce development.
This study is guided by Human Capital Theory and Self-Determination Theory, analyzing how investments in education, career development, and workplace motivation impact workforce sustainability. An exploratory, qualitative approach is employed, with open-ended, qualitative questions distributed to fire and EMS professionals, paramedic educators, and organizational leaders.
Key focus areas include barriers to paramedic education, such as financial, geographic, and institutional limitations. Innovative recruitment strategies are crucial, such as high school outreach, tuition assistance, and career transition programs. Workforce retention challenges include burnout, work-life balance, job satisfaction, and opportunities for career advancement. External partnerships are essential, involving colleges, hospitals, and EMS agencies in strengthening workforce pipelines. At the same time, fire stations serve as satellite campuses, providing benefits like increased accessibility, lower training costs, and improved community engagement.
For Assistant Fire Chiefs, ensuring adequate staffing to respond to increasing emergency calls is a primary responsibility. The shortage of trained paramedics directly affects response times, service reliability, and public safety. By leveraging fire stations as training hubs, this research explores how decentralizing paramedic education can increase enrollment, reduce geographic and financial barriers, and streamline the transition from training to employment. The study also investigates how partnerships between EMS agencies, fire departments, colleges, and hospitals can create sustainable workforce pipelines, ensuring that trained paramedics are readily available to meet community needs.
By investigating these areas, this research will provide evidence-based recommendations to fire and EMS agencies, policymakers, and educational institutions to address the workforce shortage. Utilizing fire stations as satellite campuses offers a scalable and cost-effective solution to increase paramedic recruitment and retention, ultimately ensuring that EMS agencies can maintain adequate staffing levels to protect public safety.
Recommended Citation
Levy, Joseph D. "The Use of Fire Stations as Satellite Campuses Impact on Paramedic Recruitment, Training, and Retention." (Spring 2026).