Public Health and the Incident Command System: An Overview

Brent Reagor, RS Competency 3.3 – Participate in improving the organization’s capacities (including, but not limited to program, plans, policies, laws, and workforce training). This course provides an overview of applying Incident Command System to Public Health to plan for and respond to disasters. The goal of the course is to build skills so that the public health worker can play an integral role in the Incident Command organization and structure. Learning objectives focus on ‘participating in improving the organization’s capacities’ which is competency 3.3 under ‘Plan and Improve Practice’. Learning Objectives: 1. Recognize the key concepts of the disaster cycle 2. Understand the relationship between Public Health and response partners using the Incident Command System 3. Identify the various Incident Command roles of Public Health during a disaster 4. Describe the importance of pre-incident planning and training of Public Health personnel