Development of national standardized all-hazard disaster core competencies for acute care physicians, nurses, and EMS professionals.

The 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.

Growing pains in paradise: Arizona's boom.

Arizona's explosive population growth has presented challenges for organized dentistry in the state. Among these are the opening of two new dental schools, the desire of many dentists to relocate to the urban areas of the state, and state regulations that require vigorous investigations of suspected irregular practices. The state association's executive director is banking on dentist's traditional active, positive leadership to manage these challenges.

Emergency medical services book reviews : Advanced life support category

This is the first of a proposed annual update of EMS book reviews. The purpose of these reviews is to help enlighten EMS educators and providers concerning books available in their field and help them to compare these books. As more books become available the reviews should become more specific and informative. This book review handout is divided into four sections. The first section consists of reviews for complete texts in the paramedic and special skills training categories. The second section offers suggested reading assignments for these texts. A third section reviews supplemental als texts. The last section lists other als and texts that are available zet not reviewed in this als book review handout