Hospital Haz-Mat Training

[Not2L84U2]

Does anyone have any material they have used for training hospital staff? I'm doing a class for the hospitals team that is supposed to be operation level training and I have about 12 hours to fit all this training in. Thanks!!

[KenNFD1219]

What is the current level of training for the staff? Will they be wearing SCBA or other respiratory protection? What type of hazards are they expected to handle?

If you are starting from scratch, 12 hours for a operational level course would not be nearly enought time.

[Not2L84U2]

What is the current level of training for the staff? Will they be wearing SCBA or other respiratory protection? What type of hazards are they expected to handle?

If you are starting from scratch, 12 hours for a operational level course would not be nearly enought time.

They are supposed to all be trained to the awareness level. The hospital only has PAPRS. More than likely patients will be deconed in the field, but they need to be able to identify contamination and perform decon.

I completely agree that 12 hours barely scratches the surface, but that's all the time I'm being given. Something is better than nothing.

[PDFF418]

Just completed a Hazwopper training course @ Indian River Community College in the South campus. The course was 40 hr. federal mandated course , instrutor was Matthew Bailey, retired federal government, Hazmat. This course was very informative and was intense, even since I have been operational level trained from the fire service. Again this is the federally required class that is federally recognized. Matt can be contacted@ the following...csetconsulting@tds .net, or call him @ 912-674-3890.

I would consult with him since he wrote the book, and is OSHA. Good luck

[mdcook]

Not2L84U2,
My county team just did decon drills at two hospitals in neighboring counties and boy were they ever surprised. Both hospitals are owned by the same corporation.
Some of the nursing staff had been given a two hour course on the use of the hooded PAPRS and what looked like Tychem F suits. They were lost. Most had never had neither the suits nor hoods on before and had no idea how to do a gross decon. We used the two engine side-by-side as the initial rinse then had our "victims" go to the disposable decon tent that our State has given every county and the nurses were supposed to do the wash down and final rinse. Lets just say that there is a definate need for more training, both class room and practical. The good news is that the management of the these hospitals realizes it and is making arrangements with us to conduct some more training with them.
At one of the hospitals they had an individual shower that they had purchased and took it out of the wrappers at the start of the drill. Needless to say when it came time to try to decon a victim on a backboard in this shower, none of the victims volunteered for that trip.
Overall, their hearts were in the right place, but they know they need more training.

[jmboswell]

We have been providing hospital awareness and operations level training in the Midwest for the past 8 yrs. We have been delivering an 8-hr. Operations level for non-medical staff members, with a prereq. of awareness level and a 16-hour operations level for medical staff member. Your right. . . they need more time but it's almost impossible to get them to commit to it let alone getting management/supervisory staff in for more advanced IMS type training to understand how to make decisions.

One of your better tools to look at would be the OSHA First Receivers document. Go to the OSHA web site and search for "first receiver" and you should find it. It's designed as somewhat of a consensus standard for hospitals.

After the initial training there's a strong need for continuing education and hands-on drills. They're not pretty at first but just remember where we were when we first started with a new training topic. We're basically bring a whole new industry into the hospitals and expecting them to comply and perform with ease . . . just not going to happen over night.

If you're interested in more information, you're welcome to give me a shout at 913-486-9948. We're out of the Kansas City area.

Jerry Boswell