CDC Offers Safety Training Course for Healthcare Workers Going to West Africa to Combat Ebola

As part of a comprehensive and coordinated response to the 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is offering an introductory training course for licensed clinicians (e.g., nurses, physicians, and other healthcare providers) intending to work in an Ebola treatment unit (ETU) in Africa. This training course is provided in the United States. 

The primary purpose of the course is to ensure that clinicians who are planning to provide medical care to patients with Ebola have sufficient knowledge of the disease and its transmission routes to work safely and efficiently in a well-designed ETU. This course is the first step in preparing clinicians to work independently in an ETU. It is strongly recommended that, after completing this training, clinicians receive mentoring and coaching in an ETU designated for such training in an affected country, only then progressing to fully independent work in an ETU. The CDC course contains information from similar courses developed by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) and is primarily designed to provide training for persons intending to deploy urgently in response to the current Ebola outbreak.

Learn more about the course and the dates for upcoming sessions: http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/hcp/safety-training-course/index.html

Criteria for admission to the course: http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/hcp/safety-training-course/index.html

Sample course syllabus: http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/pdf/syllabus-safety-training-course.pdfThe course will be held at the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP) in Anniston, Ala, a 90-minute drive from Atlanta (http://cdp.dhs.gov/).

Interested applicants must pre-register on CDC TRAIN. Your application will be reviewed to determine your eligibility. Eligible applicants will then be scheduled into a session and provided additional information regarding the course logistics.
• Instructions for pre-registering as a new CDC TRAIN user
• Instructions for pre-registering as an existing CDC TRAIN user

Please note that non-U.S. citizens may need to pre-register several weeks in advance of the desired course session because additional steps are required to process their applications.

For additional information on this course, contact eocevent276@cdc.gov. To learn how to become a medical volunteer for the Ebola outbreak, see USAID’s website: http://www.usaid.gov/ebola/volunteers