Nims 100,200 & 700

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rowdybear

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im an emt-b student right now and was wondering if i should get these classes before i start looking for a job or do most employers just add this to their new hire process
 
Yes, take them. It's free so why not?

More and more agencies are requiring them at some point, maybe not at the interview stage, most within 90 days. Why not already have them taken care of?
 
In Ohio you have to have these classes before you can even complete your fire or ems class to receive your card. I would suggest taking the courses and getting them out of the way. They are on the FEMA website.
 
my instructor made them mandatory home work, initially i was pissed because it was over spring break, and i had plans that i had to cancel (they can take a few hours a piece sometimes), but in retrospect, im glad he made us do it. Cause when i applied for a job, they didnt have to worry about me getting that done afterwards, and my boss who interviewed me did make mention of NIMS, when i told him a already completed all of this, he seemed inpressed. so if you have some free time, knock them out, you need them any way.

Ryan S.
 
take them online through Fredericks College

Anyone have the URL on hand? I'm too lazy tonight.
 
I am our Department NIMS Instructor as we do classes in-house as well as on-line, here in Pennsylvania NIMS-100 and NIMS-700 are required for emergency responders. They are required to hold a card. NIMS-200 is for supervisors such as strike team leaders and other middle management (where NIMS-300/400 are geared for senior management such as Command Staff). NIMS-800 is an overview of the framework and is also more management oriented as it is actually recommended for government executives (such as a mayor, governor or council-person) as well as emergency practitioners. I would suggest getting NIMS-100 and NIMS-700 done first in that order and then requesting from your training center or state office if any other NIMS modules are further required and then do those too. Remember that you can find actual classes as well as the online courses for most any level, however they take 6 to 8 hours of time to teach. Good luck!
 
While good training, NIMS goes out the window when the real disaster strikes. Small scale stuff it works great, tho. I did 100, 200 and 700 a while back and then redid them about a year or so ago. Free ConEd, why not!
 
Before we shoot holes in NIMS and ICS...

The free FEMA stuff online can be interestng in varying degrees, take the basics, take the refreshers as needed, but look also into stuff such as the course about how to prepare to deploy to a disaster (?!).

NIMS and ICS look very good in paper in D.C., and as a standard and an aspirable ideal they are great, but they increasingly favor a command situation without human nature (a good thing, but unrealistic) and with a comfortable, me-first command structure which tends to divorce managers from the on-the-ground realities.

I consider it a work in progress needing periodic refreshment from honest and prompt afteraction reports. Use them, go for it, but keep the scope and priorities real or soon it becomes another national-level American Red Cross.

6386322-bureaucrat-in-wastepaper-basket.jpg
 
Chimpie said:
bstone said:
While good training, NIMS goes out the window when the real disaster strikes. Small scale stuff it works great, tho. I did 100, 200 and 700 a while back and then redid them about a year or so ago. Free ConEd, why not!
Click to expand...
How so?
Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly...

Management doesn't even to get covered in the curriculum until you do the 200, 300 and 400 series; and NIMS-200 is small team stuff targeted at leaders of teams with no more than 7 people. The 800 course is a great resource to understand the national framework and if done right is a HUGE resource to control LARGE SCALE incidents. The problem is that everyone needs to be on the same page across multiple departments and resources must be available and intact. NIMS/ICS breaks down when there is (a) no communication across teams and other resources within a large-scale MCI because of interdepartmental challenges such as communications dilemmas, (b) proper training must have been in the pipeline preparing everyone involved for the MCI, this is why for one, stragglers are turned away from helping out and only get in the way, (c) politicians and high-level Govt. executives must be on-board and have the ability to coordinate their resources across the board (this is more of a NIMS-800 topic), et al. The truth is that NIMS/ICS is a GREAT resource for larger type incidents but is useless without the proper resources.

Also, you must remember that NIMS is evolutionary by design and past mistakes will only allow a very well put together framework to become even better overtime.
 
I say take the NIMS courses. And take some psych classes.

Whatever they call "Industrial Psych" nowadays, is very nitty-gritty, evidence-based and is tuned in to how to get people motivated, and working at least in parallel.
Let me restate my observation. Event management at all levels can come down to a concatenation of dominant personalities (aka "micturation contest") and heats up when all types of resources thin out or it is time to impress the taxpayers and their elected officials negatively or positively. Know NIMS and ICS, but since these are government documents drawn up to appeal to everyone, also learn the human mechanics involved.
 
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