Disaster Health Core Curriculum
In disaster medicine and public health, competencies are an essential tool for measuring a responder's ability to perform wide-ranging and highly skilled tasks. In March 2012, the National Center collaboratively identified 11 core competencies (and 36 sub-competencies) and published the "Core Competencies for Disaster Medicine and Public Health" in Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness. Since its release, the core competencies have been the foundation for learning curricula among domestic and international response organizations, including the Medical Reserve Corps. It has also informed more specialized competency sets in disaster nursing, mental health, and pediatrics.
The COVID-19 pandemic response has significantly revised our understanding of what are truly "core" competencies for an effective responder. To address the lessons learned during the pandemic, the National Center is undertaking a two-phased project to assess and update the Disaster Health Core Curriculum. The project will:
- Identify the essential updates recommended for the Disaster Health Core Competencies, given the lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic
- Identify areas needed for such competencies explicitly defined for disaster and public health preparedness, response, and management
- Identify opportunities and content to improve the disaster training/education curricula
This analysis is being conducted with the support of a distinguished group of subject matter experts and will enable the National Center to develop and disseminate an enhanced collection of disaster core competencies for use by disaster medicine and public health focused agencies, organizations, and academic institutions to develop their own training curricula. The Disaster Health Core Curriculum is a free, online course intended to introduce healthcare professionals to a diverse and comprehensive array of disaster medicine topics. Eleven modules encapsulate the current suite of competencies in disaster medical response and translate the most recent research into effective clinical practices for use in disaster medicine and public health. To access the online training select the modules below.
Number of Contact Hours to be awarded: 7 Max.
Content for this education activity was chosen from: Walsh L, Subbarao I, Gebbie K, et al. Core Competencies for Disaster Medicine and Public Health. Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness. 2012;6(1):44-52. doi:10.1001/dmp.2012.4
Through a partnership with the American Public Health Association, learners completing the Disaster Health Core Curriculum can earn continuing medical, nursing, and health education credits at no cost for a maximum of 7.0 AMA PRA Category 1 credit (s)™. To obtain continuing education credits, learners must complete the online assessments with a passing score of 70% or above and receive credit hours. Access the post-assessments here and create an online account.
Note: an American Public Health Association membership is not required to access the assessment page. Competencies 1-2 and 6-7 are combined to receive full credit. Learners have the option to print individual certificates after each assessment.