What things still need to be done to be adequately prepared?

The Radiation Injury Treatment Network (RITN) is focusing on three activities:

·     Training transplant center staff on basic radiation incident procedures.

·     Creating and improving standard operating procedures (SOPs) for treating the injured after triage by first responders.  These include protocols for assessment of radiation exposure; guidelines for supportive care; decision-making guidelines for who might need a hematopoietic cell transplant; protocol outlines for a transplant; and data collection protocols to assess what has been done and the outcomes.

·     Testing the SOPs.

This summer the RITN is conducting a small-scale exercise to test the transplant centers’ SOPs.  Then in October, a handful of centers will be involved in a national exercise that reaches from Washington, D.C., to Guam.