Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) Infectious Disease Online Training

The CERC Infectious Diseases Online Training provides vital communication concepts and tools to assist in preparing for and responding to a severe influenza pandemic in the United States. This course is a condensed version of CDC’s Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication: Pandemic Influenza course book

Please email the CERC Team at cercrequest@cdc.gov with any questions.

Learning Objectives:

Upon completion of this course you will be able to do the following:

• Describe the psychology of a severe pandemic.
• Describe how to meet the public’s needs through effective messages.
• Explain why stigmatization occurs.
• Explain strategies officials can use to respond to stigmatization.
• Recognize the importance of strengthening community hardiness and personal resilience to provide the optimum opportunity for recovery from the crisis.
• Determine which populations will be unable to receive general public health emergency messages through mass communication channels during the initial phase of a public health emergency.
• Analyze the ways that information technology and new media influence communication decisions and pandemic preparedness.

Training Navigation:

• Use the arrows at the bottom of every screen to advance to the next screen or return to the previous one.
• Click the “home” icon on the top right corner to access the table of contents. Use it to select a specific module in order to get a refresher on a particular portion of the course.

Obtaining a Certificate of Participation:

A certificate of participation is available upon completion of this course. This course does not offer continuing education credits. Follow the steps below to obtain a certificate of participation

1. Complete the training.
2. Go to CDC Training & Continuing Education Online (TCEO) cdc.gov/TCEOnline. If you have not registered as participant, click on New Participant to create a user ID and password, otherwise click on Participant Login and login.
3. Once logged on to the TCEO website, you will be on the Participant Services page. Click on Search and Register. Enter “CERC” as the keyword to locate Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) Pandemic Influenza Training (WB2056) and click on View.
4. Click on the course and scroll down to Register Here on the course information page. Complete the questions and then Submit.
5. Choose to go right to the evaluation. Complete the evaluation and Submit. You need a score of at least 70% to pass the post-test.
6. A record of your course completion and your certificate will be located in the Transcript and Certificate section of your record on TCEO.