A course on transporting biomedical materials might not be high on the list of required courses for everyone, but it was for more than 5,500 Department of Defense medical personnel around the world who have taken this class.
Taught by the U.S. Army Public Health Command's Hazardous and Medical Waste Program, the Transport of Biomedical Material Course training team has certified DOD medical personnel to safely and properly package and ship biomedical material since 1995. During that time, Annjanette Ellison, training team leader, and her team members have trained laboratorians, logisticians, physicians, environmental specialists and other personnel to effectively and efficiently ship infectious samples and specimens and other biomedical material safely around the world.
Personnel attending the training are from all the U.S. military services and include personnel from other agencies such as the Veterans Administration who are also involved in biomedical material transport.
"Since 9/11 and the subsequent anthrax attacks, enrollment and requests for training have surged," explained Ellison. "In 1996, we trained personnel in Japan on proper management and transport of biomedical material after the Aum Shinrikyo attack on the Tokyo subway. Since that time, we've trained personnel from several locations worldwide including research facilities in Thailand, Korea, Kenya, the United Kingdom, Germany, Iceland, Egypt and more."
Last summer Ellison and team member Patricia Ewald, a biomedical material transport instructor, returned from training U.S. Air Force personnel at Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England. Ellison reported that students there said they truly appreciated the practical exercises and the positive instruction. Teaching people how to ship biological samples and specimens is what this USAPHC training team does best, according to Ellison.
During their courses, they emphasize national and international shipping regulations for properly packaging and shipping Category A infectious substances (substances that are capable of causing life-threatening or fatal diseases), Category B infectious substances (diagnostic specimens), biological products (materials that prevent, treat or cure disease in humans and animals), toxins (poisonous material from plant, animal or bacterial sources), and medical waste (waste material generated in the diagnosis, treatment or immunization of human beings and animals) by air, water, highway and mail. Standards for shipping biological select agent and toxins are taught.
Related packaging requirements for packaging and shipping gynecological samples are also taught. Proper refrigeration of samples and requirements for packaging samples utilizing dry ice, liquid nitrogen and other materials is also emphasized.
Team members often use their expertise to help organizations with special needs.
"When the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology relocated a large inventory of sensitive material prior to its closure in 2009, we provided both training and advice in support of this effort as their military functions were relocated due to the Base Realignment and Closure process," Ellison said.
This course is especially important to DOD research facilities and hospitals outside the continental U.S. since many facilities rely on laboratories in the U.S. to validate findings or do additional analyses on samples collected around the world. From shipping clerks to laboratory technicians to doctors and nurses, students learn sample identification and classification as well as packaging and filling out paperwork required for shipping.
"Learning the guidelines for transportation and ensuring their safe packaging is important to the sender, the carrier and the receiver," said Ellison. "Postal, airline and other transport industry personnel have concerns about the possibility of becoming ill as the result of exposure to infectious microorganisms that may escape from broken, leaking or improperly packaged material. It is our job to train those who ship these hazardous materials."
Regulatory requirements from the Department of Transportation, DOD, the International Air Transport Association, the U.S. Postal Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization and others are covered in the week-long training class.
"The course pulls critical information from all the different transportation regulations and puts them in a user-friendly format," explained Linda Baetz, HMWP manager. "The format allows personnel to quickly learn and apply national and international transportation standards into operational missions."
Students must pass a rigorous final exam to be certified because a lot may depend on the ability of the students to put their learning into practice. DOD regulations require the initial training be taken in-resident and that DOD certifiers (also known as "preparers" in the hazardous material arena) receive recertification training every two years. Both in-resident and online options are available for recertification training.
The Transport of Biomedical Material Course is mandated by DOD regulation for preparers of biomedical material. The course is supported jointly by DOD components with the Hazardous Material Service Focal Points, the Surface Deployment and Distribution Command, and the U.S. Army Transportation Command assisting in course oversight.
Attendees do not currently have to pay a registration fee to take the course. However, customers may incur a nominal fee for specific onsite training requests. Ellison says that this cost is a small price to pay to ensure the safety of those who ship and receive materials as well as the protection of the material being shipped.
For more information on the USAPHC's Transport of Biomedical Material Course, visit:
U.S. Army Public Health Command, http://phc.amedd.army.mil/Pages/Training.aspx
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