The Hospital Incident Command System: An Organized Approach to Manage Emergency Situations

Conference Presentations
National Response Plan (NRP) IS 800 (pdf)
Operations & Planning Chief Positions & Scalability of the HICS System (pdf)
Incident Commander, Logistics Chief & Finance Chief Positions (pdf)
HICS Forms (pdf)

Overview

The Sonoma County Department of Health Services is pleased to offer a free HICS conference and free NIMS 800 for Leaders course as part of the public health disaster preparedness planning efforts.

The morning conference, for all audiences, covers HICS, an incident management system for hospitals to use during a disaster. HICS is an integral part of the NIMS emergency management system, a required component of all hospital emergency plans.

The afternoon course, for executive-level leaders, covers the National Incident Management System. NIMS training is one of the important requirements that state, territorial, tribal and local leaders must accomplish to become fully compliant with NIMS.

Executive-level leaders are strongly encouraged to register for both the half-day conference and the one-hour course.

This conference is not currently scheduled.

Target Audience

These training events are for:

Sonoma County hospital disaster coordinators and members of hospital disaster planning teams, including:

Hospital administrators
Emergency program managers
Emergency preparedness committee members
Hospital emergency operations center staff
Educational services staff
Department managers
Medical directors and physicians
Public health officers and emergency planners
Safety coordinators
Risk managers and legal affairs personnel
Clinic staff and administrators
Medical and health operational area coordinators

Skilled nursing facility disaster coordinators, SNF administrators, and members of SNF disaster planning teams.

Community clinic disaster coordinators and administrators.

Tribal government disaster coordinators and leaders.

HICS Conference Description

This half-day HICS conference will provide the attendees with a basic understanding of the Incident Management Team positions and the use of the HICS tools. The in-depth concepts of hospital incident action planning will be presented with a focus on the roles and responsibilities of the Planning Section. We will discuss the role of the hospital in community emergency preparedness and response, and the importance of collaborative planning. A facilitated tabletop exercise will be conducted to simulate an event response. Strategies for implementing HICS in the hospital will be provided.

This course is being conducted by the Sonoma County Department of Health Services, Public Health Division, and is being delivered by local hospital emergency preparedness experts. This course is free to attendees. All participants will receive course materials with forms and templates.

Check-in starts at 8:30 a.m.; the conference starts promptly at 9:00 a.m. A continental breakfast and boxed lunch will be provided. Please bring a sweater or jacket for comfort.

HICS Learning Objectives

At the end of the HICS course, the participants will be able to:

Outline the historical development of HEICS and HICS.
Discuss National Incident Management System (NIMS) implementation activities for hospitals.
Understand the concepts of the Standardized Emergency Management System (SEMS) and its relation to NIMS.
Learn the principle concepts and features of HICS.
Understand the roles and relationships of the Incident Management Team.
Understand the application and use of the HICS tools including job action sheets, incident planning guides and incident response guides, HICS documentation forms, and HICS education materials.
Demonstrate organizational and communication effectiveness of HICS through a facilitated, scenario-based exercise.
Understand the adaptation of HICS to small and rural facilities.

HICS Accreditation

Continuing education credit will be provided for nurses based on 3 hours of instruction. This program is provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider #CEP12787, for (3) Contact Hours, awarded by the County of Sonoma, Department of Health Services.

All health professionals must sign the attendance sheet and complete the evaluation form before a course certificate will be issued.

NIMS 800 for Leaders: An Introduction

This one-hour awareness level course introduces the key elements of the National Response Plan, or NRP. The NRP describes how the federal government will work in concert with state, local, and tribal governments, and the private sector, to respond to disasters.

NIMS 800 Learning Objectives

Participants will be able to:

Describe the purpose of the NRP.
Locate information within the NRP.
Describe the roles and responsibilities of entities as specified in the NRP.
Identify the organizational structure used for NRP coordination.
Describe the field-level organizations and teams activated under the NRP.
Identify incident management activities addressed by NRP.

NIMS 800 Accreditation

Continuing education credit will be provided for nurses based on 1 hour of instruction. This program is provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider #CEP12787, for (1) Contact Hour, awarded by the County of Sonoma, Department of Health Services.