Training Guidelines

(Draft April 21, 2002)

Purpose

The purpose of the Training Guidelines paper is to summarize training issues and to make recommendations for minimum and recommended levels of training to assist local EMS Agencies in the performance of their disaster medical responsibilities. The recommendations are the result of discussion among the members of the Advisory Committee to the Disaster Medical Systems Standards Project, with input from interested individuals and organizations.

Project Assumptions

The Disaster Medical Standards project recognizes the following:

· That throughout the state of California, local EMS agencies (LEMSAs) vary significantly in the size of the area they serve and in the number of personnel within the LEMSA agency. Additionally, there is significant variance in the role that local agencies play within the areas they serve. In addition to planning and response roles at the Operational Area level, many agencies have field and/or hospital level response assignments. In addition to participating in the training of Operational Area level personnel, local agencies have varying levels of responsibility for the training of first response and hospital personnel.

· That the role of hospital Emergency Departments varies widely throughout the state. Hospitals may receive all ambulance traffic or no ambulance traffic; they may or may not provide on-line medical direction to field personnel.

· That hospitals and other providers of medical and health care may or may not be linked to other corporate partners with a range of disaster planning and networks in place.

· That organizational priorities determine budgets and areas of emphasis and that disaster medical planning has rarely had top priority.

Project Goals

The Disaster Medical Standards project goals are as follows:

· To establish minimum requirements for training personnel providing field response so that all responding field personnel, when trained to the minimum standard, are able to fill any and all positions in a Multi-Casualty Incident (MCI).

· To establish minimum requirements for training personnel in a hospital, and/or Control Facility or Central Point.

· To establish minimum requirements for training personnel functioning in the Operational Area medical support role (Operational Area Emergency Operations Center [EOC] Medical Branch or the Medical/Health Department Operations Center [DOC]).

· To establish minimum requirements for personnel functioning in a medical dispatch role.

· To recommend existing training programs where appropriate. Those training programs include the Standardized Emergency Management System (SEMS) training model, the Hospital Emergency Incident Command System (HEICS) training model and standard ACI recommendations.

· To recommend “Minimum Standards” (training deemed necessary to achieve competence at the desired level) and “Recommended Standards” (additional training deemed beneficial should time and finances allow).