Hospital Incident Command System

In the United States, the Hospital Incident Command System (HICS) is an incident command system (ICS) designed for hospitals and intended for use in both emergency and non-emergency situations. It provides hospitals of all sizes with tools needed to advance their emergency preparedness and response capability—both individually and as members of the broader response community.

HICS is based upon the Hospital Emergency Incident Command System (HEICS), which was created in the late 1980s as an important foundation for the 5,815 registered hospitals in the United States in their efforts to prepare for and respond to various types of disasters. In developing the fourth edition of HEICS, the value and importance of using an incident management system to assist as well with daily operations, preplanned events, and non-emergency situations became apparent. Thus, the HICS was created as a system for use in both emergency and non-emergency situations, such as moving the facility, dispensing medications to hospital staff, or planning for a large hospital or community event.

HICS was developed by a national work group of twenty hospital subject-matter experts from across the United States. In addition to the contributions of the national work group, ex officio members were included to ensure consistency with governmental, industrial, and hospital accreditation planning efforts and requirements.

An ICS is designed to:

The incident planning process takes place regardless of the incident size or complexity. This planning involves six essential steps:

The Homeland Security Presidential Directive-5 (HSPD-5), issued by President George W. Bush in February 2003, created the National Incident Management System (NIMS). Until NIMS, there had been no standard for domestic incident response that united all levels of government and all emergency response agencies. The NIMS is designed to provide a framework for interoperability and compatibility among the various members of the response community. The end result is a flexible framework that facilitates governmental and nongovernmental agencies working together at all levels during all phases of an incident, regardless of its size, complexity, or location.

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