National Healthcare Disaster Certification

For a while now, I have been discussing the need for a better foundation for healthcare professionals regarding what to expect and how to respond during an emergency or a disaster.  If this past hurricane season has taught us anything, interagency and interdepartmental cooperation is paramount to a successful response to a large scale incident.

To that end, the American Nurse Credentialing Center (ANCC) last year created an interprofessional certification that offers to provide a valid and reliable assessment of the competencies required to respond to a large-scale healthcare crisis.  The National Healthcare Disaster Professional certification (http://nursecredentialing.org/Certification/NurseSpecialties/National-Healthcare-Disaster-Certification) has done a great job in ensuring the foundation of what is required to interact with the myriad of agencies that will respond.

This is not just designed for nurses. This is designed for every profession that plays a role in the effective response to a disaster.  Public health, emergency management, fire, police, EMS, governmental, public/private, and healthcare.....all are included.

From my perspective, this is not to replace any existing certification.  This is intended as a means to plug the gaps that are present in between disciplines.  Yet again, in my humble opinion, well worth the time and money necessary to complete!