• Carl H Schultz, Kristi L Koenig, Mary Whiteside, Rick Murray, and National Standardized All-Hazard Disaster Core Competencies Task Force.
• Center for Disaster Medical Sciences, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of California Irvine School of Medicine, Orange, CA, USA. schultzc@uci.edu
• Ann Emerg Med. 2012 Mar 1; 59 (3): 196-208.e1.

AbstractThe training of medical personnel to provide care for disaster victims is a priority for the physician community, the federal government, and society as a whole. Course development for such training guided by well-accepted standardized core competencies is lacking, however. This project identified a set of core competencies and performance objectives based on the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required by the specific target audience (emergency department nurses, emergency physicians, and out-of-hospital emergency medical services personnel) to ensure they can treat the injuries and illnesses experienced by victims of disasters regardless of cause. The core competencies provide a blueprint for the development or refinement of disaster training courses. This expert consensus project, supported by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, incorporated an all-hazard, comprehensive emergency management approach addressing every type of disaster to minimize the effect on the public's health. An instructional systems design process was used to guide the development of audience-appropriate competencies and performance objectives. Participants, representing multiple academic and provider organizations, used a modified Delphi approach to achieve consensus on recommendations. A framework of 19 content categories (domains), 19 core competencies, and more than 90 performance objectives was developed for acute medical care personnel to address the requirements of effective all-hazards disaster response. Creating disaster curricula and training based on the core competencies and performance objectives identified in this article will ensure that acute medical care personnel are prepared to treat patients and address associated ramifications/consequences during any catastrophic event.Copyright © 2012 American College of Emergency Physicians. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

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