CDP contemplates healthcare evacuation course

Those responsible for planning how to evacuate patients from a hospital or other health care facility in the event of an emergency will be pleased to hear the Center for Domestic Preparedness is looking at the possibility of adding a course focused precisely on that to its expansive library of offerings.

The CDP’s curriculum development team is only entertaining the idea at this point, according to the team’s chief, Roy Marlow. But, discussions with healthcare experts across the country, as well as officials in government agencies such as the Department of Health and Human Services, “have indicated that there is a need” for such training, he said.

The center’s course development process is detailed. It includes storyboarding a course, researching related material, writing the course, then having everything reviewed by experts on the subject, including the instructional staff who will deliver the training.

According to Marlow, it could be two or more years before this course is ready for in-person delivery either on or off the CDP campus. However, he said his team has begun working on developing a web-based (Virtual instructor-led training or VILT) version of the course, which it hopes to have available earlier.