Emergency Response to Biological & Chemical Weapons Events: An Online Training Program

Following the recent anthrax attacks, FAS received a multitude of inquiries not only from the media, but also from emergency response personnel. The emergency response personnel sought readily available technical guidance on how to handle potential bioterrorism events. A review of available on-line material revealed that there is existing information on the web, but it is often difficult to find and of minimal value to those who would have to respond directly to a bioterrorism attack.

The FAS, through its Chemical and Biological Arms Control Project, has initiated an effort that will provide efficient, accurate, up-to-date online training opportunities for nurses, paramedics, public health officials, police, and other individuals who may find themselves responding to emergencies involving biological or chemical weapon attacks. This will include a comprehensive online reference library as well as online courses that can be used for background training or "just in time" learning.

We are recruiting individuals and groups with material and skills useful to the project and/or representing groups such as nursing associations that will need to use the materials. The core of the team includes the Nursing Schools at Vanderbilt and the University of Wisconsin system.

Topics that will be addressed include identifying symptoms of CBW attacks, recommended treatments, safety procedures for medical and emergency personnel, where to go for assistance, and methods for identifying and isolating contaminated sites.

Over the next few months, we will:

• Define a detailed curriculum of materials that should be mastered by the target audience. This will begin with anthrax and will be expanded to cover other biological and chemical agents.
• Create an informal "editorial board" that will quickly review materials to be posted to ensure its accuracy.
• Collect and post on the FAS website reference materials and up-to-date literature in an easily accessible and searchable format.
• Collect and post available courses and course components relevant to the topic.
• Identify institutions offering courses.
• Identify individual experts willing to participate in teaching online courses (answering on-line questions, etc.).
• Establish priorities for building online courses using available materials and expertise.
• Use authoring tools to build and make available new curricular materials quickly in high-priority areas.

More information can be found on the FAS website at www.fas.org/bwc or call Van Blackwood at 202/ 454-4686.