National Disaster Life Support

In 2003, the American Medical Association (AMA) partnered with four major medical centers and three national health institutions and founded the National Disaster Life Support (NDLS) training program. The NDLS program was designed to enhance the preparation of medical professionals and emergency response teams for situations involving mass casualties. The ultimate goal is to establish uniform emergency response training across the country and improve the United States public health system.

NDLS classes concentrate on the approach that doctors, nurses, EMTs, and other emergency workers should take in response to catastrophic events. The situations that are addressed include terrorist attacks, explosions, fires, natural disasters, and disease outbreaks.

In a time of crisis, an efficient, organized plan to accommodate a massive amount of injured and deceased people is crucial. To accomplish such a task, it was necessary to develop a standardized course incorporating instructional and hands-on tutoring for the various members of the medical community that would likely be present at the scene of a major tragedy. Basic Disaster Life Support (BDLS) and Advanced Disaster Life Support (ADLS) programs were designed with different medical occupations in mind.

Both programs are intended to promote awareness and demonstrate critical skills needed to prepare for and handle disasters. The BDLS series of courses contains lectures concerning natural disasters, traumatic and explosive events, nuclear and radiological events, and critical incident stress. Once BDLS is completed, an individual can graduate to the ADLS coursework. There, the curriculum builds upon the foundation of BDLS with more complex topics.

The National Disaster Life Support Foundation, a nonprofit group, was created to supervise BDLS and ADLS.

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