CiMeRC Hospital Self-Assessment Terms of Agreement
The purpose of this website is to provide guidance for hospital emergency departments wishing to assess their level of preparedness to evaluate and treat casualties of Biological/Chemical terrorist attack. This is accomplished through the use of an interactive self-assessment questionnaire developed and validated by an expert consensus panel. This panel was made up of experts in the fields of emergency medicine, medical toxicology, pre-hospital emergency care, hospital administration and weapons that may be used by terrorists. The expert panel met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in June of 2002. The recommendations and guidance points developed by this panel represent the only current, validated preparedness recommendations for hospital-based emergency departments to date. Responses to the self-assessment questions are derived from the Domestic Preparedness Defense Against Weapons of Mass Destruction: Hospital Provider Course manual used by the Soldier Biological and Chemical Command (SBCCOM) Domestic Preparedness Training Program. See the formal acknowledgement list and the copyright notice for the information.
The initial paradigm identified by the Consensus Panel is the supposition that a given hospital emergency department will be in full compliance with all JCAHO regulations addressing disaster preparedness/management as well as any regulations addressing weapons of mass destruction. The self-assessment, derived from previously published guidelines and the recommendations of the consensus conference, embodies the requirements necessary for the capability of an emergency department to generate some minimal level of reasonable response to an event (irrespective of population base, resource surge capacity, etc.).
This development of this website represents a joint venture between Mercy Health System, Drexel University, Drexel University College of Medicine - Department of Emergency Medicine/Division of Toxicology.
This work was funded under a contract with US Army Medical Research and Material Command, Fort Detrick, MD 21702-5012: U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity; Cooperative Agreement DAMD17-99-2-9012. The content of the information herein does not necessarily reflect the position or the policy of the US government or the US Army and no official endorsement should be inferred.