Bioterrorism and Disaster Initiatives

This past year, physicians, nurses and Illiinois Poison Center specialists made thier way to Northwestern Memorial to hone and develop skills in treating victims of chemical exposure.  Dr. Rob Rodgers developed a course that allows clinicians to interact with a high fidelity biosimulator that provides the most realistic training possible.  Dr. Mark Mycyk of the Department utilized his experience as a toxicologist to help develop and program the patient scenarios.  With the vital support of the Chicago Department of Public Health and Department of Anesthesiology staff in the Patient Safety Simulator Center, this program is one of the first in the country to offer such advanced training to the hospital staff of an entire city.

Many years of experience demonstrated the value of simulator training to pilots, allowing them to manages difficult situations over and over with no danger and very low costs.  This course offeres clinicians the same chance:  to care for a critically ill patient who has been exposed to one of several chemical substances.  The state of the art computer-driven simulator has a pulse, lung sounds and responds to the students' therapy such as defibrillation, antidotes, and oxygen administration.  If correctly managed, he improves and thanks the class.  If care was not on target, he offers the chance to try the scenario again.  The students all remark that this is a rare opportunity and they felt that their future practice will benefit.

The course is focused not only on the "bioterrorism" chemicals but also upon "agents of opportunity" that are widely available throughout the United States.  It is far less likely that a physician or nurse in Chicago will treat a patient exposed to "sarin gas" that to see someone who was doused with or inhaled an industrial chemical.  The current course offers participants the opportunity to actually manage a patient before they have to do so for real.  The overall goal is to increase knowledge and to decrease anxiety, helping to produce an informed, prepared city.

Additional bioterrorism and disaster initiative resources are located on the following websites: