This hospital emergency response team (HERT) textbook was born out of nearly
three decades of participating and observing in emergency medical response,
planning, training and exercises, with both civilian and military medical entities.
Day in and day out, personnel who have dedicated their lives to taking care of others
perform admirably. In this author’s experience, units that operate at the peak
of efficiency and effectiveness share the attributes of good training, on-the-job
experience, and leadership. Disasters pose a challenge to these traits observed in
high-performing teams. Rarely is training adequate, few personnel have disaster
response experience, and unfortunately, expending limited hospital resources
on disaster preparedness does not often lengthen any Chief Executive Officer’s
tenure.