4-Day Hospital Emergency Response Training (HERT) for Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Events for Mass Casualty Incidents (MCI) Syllabus

The B461 Hospital Emergency Response Training (HERT) for Mass Casualty Incidents Train-the-Trainer Course is designed to provide guidance to hospitals, EMS, health care facilities and citizens who may become involved in a mass casualty incident as a result of a hazardous materials incident (HMI) or a weapon of mass destruction (WMD) event. Unlike many courses of this nature, the HERT/MCI expands on the hospital incident management system (HIMS), addresses chemical protective clothing and equipment (CPC&E) requirements, and presents guidance for hospital emergency response team (HERT) design, development and training. This course prepares HERT to conduct safe and effective emergency response during mass casualty incidents (MCI). This is a hands-on course. Participants must be physically and psychologically fit to wear CPC&E (level C ensemble) during the training.

This course focuses on the hospital's role outside the emergency department (ED). Doctors, nurses, physicians, security personnel and other hospital staff who would make up their Hospital's Emergency Response Team (HERT) should attend this course. The course will provide hospitals and health care facilities with all the information and skills they need to go back to their facilities and develop and train their own HERTs.

Day 1
HERT/WMD Introduction
Unit One: Course Introduction - Origin of the Incident Command System (ICS)
Unit Two: Hospital Incident Management System (HIMS)
Unit Three: Overview of Chemical, Biological and Toxic Industrial Chemical (TIC) Hazards
Unit Four: HIMS for Mass Casualty Events (MCE)

Day 2
Unit Five: Hospital Emergency Response Team (HERT) Members
Unit Six: Chemical Protective Clothing and Equipment (CP&CE)
Unit Seven: Emergency Treatment Area (ETA) for Triage, Decontamination, Treatment, and Transport
Unit Eight: Hospital Decontamination Procedures

Day 3
Unit Nine: HIMS and Unified Command (UC)
Unit Ten: HIMS and Hospital Emergency Response Plan (HERP) Integration
Unit Eleven: Hospital and Laboratory Response Network (LRN) and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Coordination (Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Program)
Unit Twelve: HIMS and the Incident Action Plan (IAP)

Day 4
Unit Thirteen: Drills/Exercise: Response Debriefing, Analysis, and Critique
Unit Fourteen: HIMS and Emergency Operations Center (EOC) Interface
Unit Fifteen: Lessons Learned