National Disaster Life Support Programs—A Model for Standardized, All-Hazards Disaster Medicine Training

Abstract

Introduction: The development of the [US] National Disaster Life Support (NDLS) programs (Advanced, Basic, and Core Disaster Life Support) began prior to 11 September 2001, but in its aftermath, the NDLS programs have become a leading all-hazards disaster medicine training program in the US. The NDLS programs are taught through a training center model. The curriculum is revised via the National Disaster Life Support Education Consortium (NDLSEC), a multi-disciplinary, multi-specialty consortium. Methods: The National Disaster Life Support Foundation (NDLSF) is a not-for-profit organization developed by the academic medical centers and partners that developed the NDLS programs. The founding institutions are the Medical College of Georgia, die University of Georgia, the University of Texas Southwestern, the University of Texas-Houston, and the American Medical Association. The NDLSF has die responsibility to oversee, certify, and monitor a network of training centers. The NDLSEC consist of individual members and 75 representative stakeholder organizations. Results: The training center network overseen by the NDLSF consists of 70 training centers in the US and 10 developing international training centers. The NDLSEC has >150 members with representatives from virtually every medical discipline and specialty. More than 70,000 individuals have been trained. Conclusions: The NDLS programs have employed a training center network model to deploy standardized, all-hazards disaster educational programs. The NDLS programs have been successful in bridging die gap in disaster medicine education programs in the US and may represent a useful model for other countries to provide disaster medicine education.