Most training curricula for first responders and Skilled Service Personnel (SSP) has been focused on chemical, biological, natural disaster (hurricane, flood), and pandemic response. However, training curricula regarding response to radiological events has been limited. Although some basic training exists for small radiological events, training that focuses on the screening and triaging of large numbers of potential victims seeking medical services after a catastrophic nuclear event, i.e., the detonation of an Improvised Nuclear Device and even an Explosive Dispersal Device, is nonexistent. First responders are ill prepared to deal with an overwhelming large number of victims and worried-well resulting from such a catastrophic event, and current guidelines and training curricula from federal sources such as the REMM and the REAC/TS focus only on small events, i.e., nuclear power plant accidents. Nicolalde R&D LLC in collaboration with Dartmouth College, proposes to develop (in Phase 1) an e-training curricula for First Responders, Skilled Service Personnel (SSP), and volunteers to respond to a catastrophic nuclear event that requires the screening and medical triage of larger numbers of potential victims, following our proprietary methodology for developing, implementing and evaluating new operating procedures and technologies for emergency response. The current literature regarding Standard Operating Procedures and federal guidelines for responding and mitigating the effects of radiation exposures, for any size of radiological event, relies on unreliable and poorly tested methods for measuring radiation exposure at the individual level, i.e., time to emesis, and serial lymphocyte count over a period of several days, and assumes that the medical system will have the capacity to admit every potential victim. These guidelines will not provide the needed capabilities to screen large numbers of potential victims, which will most likely overwhelm the medical system. The federal government has been spending significant amounts of money on grants (U19 CMCR) and contracts (BARDAs) to support the development and implementation of high throughput and rapid biodosimetry technologies that can be available through the national stockpile. We propose to include in our training curricula the use of these novel biodosimetry technologies that can screen and triage potential victims efficiently and reliably. Electron Paramagnetic Resonance dosimetry (EPR) is one of such technologies capable of providing the needed capability. Another example of such technologies is a blood assay based on genetic markers that can be used rapidly in the field. Curricula for the use of any of these fast dosimetry techniques is not existent. In phase 1 we will develop the training curricula (content) in two languages, English and Spanish. We will also explore the feasibility to deliver the content using some of the currently available methods to deliver e-training such as the Just-In-Time Training for Emergency Incidents System (JITTEIS), or through interactive DVD format, or through interactive video games. We will explore these alternatives and make the appropriate contacts to potentially test the training program using the selected alternative in Phase 2. The application is rated at a priority score level of 49.
The availability of e-training curricula for First Responders, Skilled Service Personnel, and volunteers for the processes of setting-up, operating, maintaining and troubleshooting mass screening centers for triaging potential victims after as catastrophic nuclear event, represents a major improvement in the capabilities of the emergency response community to responding to these kind of events. There is, currently, a significant gap in the training curricula and standard operating procedures for accomplishing mass casualty triage after a nuclear event that involves large numbers of potential victims and an even larger number of worried-well.
