Educating Medical Staff About Responding to a Radiological or Nuclear Emergency.

The article discusses the move of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) to educate medical staff about how they will respond to a radiological or nuclear emergency. In May 2002, the agency convened a roundtable meeting to discuss the state of preparedness of hospital emergency departments and of emergency services clinicians. From these discussions, CDC has developed guidelines for hospitals and clinicians about mass casualty management of patients involved in a radiological emergency. Furthermore, it developed new training and education products for the clinician tool kit which include "Medical Response to Nuclear and Radiological Terrorism" and "Emergency Management Pocket Guide."