Course Aim: To help public health workers, and other professionals on the front lines of bioterrorism defense, combat the potential adverse psychological effects of performing their functional roles and professional responsibilities in bioterrorism preparedness, response and recovery.
Course Goals:
1.
To promote and protect the health and safety of bioterrorism front line responders by assuring that they are aware of the potentially damaging psychological effects of performing their functional roles in emergency preparedness and bioterrorism response and recovery;
2.
To limit the psychological distress and negative health behaviors in bioterrorism front line responders by helping them to combat these occupational stressors through developing skills for compassion fatigue prevention and resiliency.
3.
To sustain the capacity of those who must continue to perform their professional roles in bioterrorism response and recovery, following a terrorism event, for the purpose of promoting an effective public health response.
Learner Objectives:
At the conclusion of this course, participants will be able to:
1.
Define and discuss compassion fatigue.
2.
Recognize and assess his or her professional risk for developing compassion fatigue.
3.
Identify the causes of compassion fatigue.
4.
Describe and explain the signs and symptoms of compassion fatigue.
5.
Utilize effective personal stress reduction strategies and techniques for effective compassion fatigue prevention and resiliency.
Relevant Competencies for Public Health Professionals: This competency-based training program is designed to meet the bioterrorism competency of recognizing and treating the psychological impact of a bioterrorism event on public health and healthcare professionals.
