CAPCE Commission on Accreditation for Pre-Hospital Continuing Education

Commission on Accreditation for Pre-Hospital Continuing Education (CAPCE) will serve as the recognized leader for continuing education in EMS, promoting its evolution and growth through development of continuing education standards, encouragement of innovative learning solutions, the support of continuous learning opportunities and the assurance of optimal learning experiences to prepare all EMS providers for their professional challenges. 

The Commission on Accreditation for Prehospital Continuing Education (CAPCE), was founded in 1992 under the vision and guidance of Janet Head, then President of the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians (NAEMT). Janet recognized that not all EMS continuing education (CE) was of a level or quality that she would expect for practicing EMS providers. Thus, she sought support from the leadership of other EMS leadership organizations such as The National Association of EMS Educators (NAEMSE), The National Registry of EMTs (NREMT), The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) and The National Association of EMS Physicians (NAEMSP). Together these organizations worked to provide an accreditation service for EMS based CE.

CAPCE, by its charter, maintains the standards for the delivery of EMS CE. Those standards include requirements for active medical direction, valid post-tests, quality infrastructure, sound educational design including delivery methodology, marketing, fees, evaluation, student record keeping and data reporting.

CAPCE accreditation exists so that EMS providers have access to high quality, standard-driven continuing education activities and are awarded credit for participating in such activities.