This module is one of six intended to provide you with a basic awareness of the major emergency preparedness issues that you, as a hospital clinician, need to be familiar with. This module focuses on chemical incidents, providing an overview of key issues and highlighting some of the ways your expertise may be called upon during a chemical emergency.

Before taking this module, we recommend that you first complete Module 1: Emergency Preparedness: The Basics. That module provides detailed information on the context in which you and your facility will be operating in any kind of mass casualty scenario. In Module 1, you will learn about the Hospital Emergency Incident Command System (HEICS), your potential role in an emergency, protocols you will be expected to follow in an emergency, and other core information that sets the stage for the other five modules, including this one.