ALL FORMS ARE IN PDF FORMAT 
Writable HICS forms
When the California EMS Authority released the Hospital ICS materials they created
a set of NIMS compliant forms that could be used to guide and document the activities
of a hospital in responding to an emergency management situation. To ensure consistency these forms were released in an unchangeable PDF format. The implication was that the
forms would be printed and the information would be entered manually through hand writing. While this process is workable, it is really more likely that information will be managed digitally/electronically on a computer. Unfortunately the form set released by Cal EMSA
was not in a format that allowed the input of data electronically.
The Los Angeles County EMS Agency now offers a set of HICS forms that can be easily
filled out on a computer. These are free for downloading and installation on your hospital computer system. Because these are still in a PDF format they will not 'word wrap' or
change in any way as the data is entered as might happen if a form was modified using
a word processor. While a word processor format (e.g. MS Word) would allow changes to
a form, it must be assumed that some workers in a Hospital Command Center during an
event will not posses the word processing skills needed to enter data and still keep a
proper format.
However, no mater how simple a format is, there are still going to be some details to be
aware of. In order to comfortably utilize these HICS forms in a typeable PDF format, you
should be aware of the following aspects.
- SAVE and SAVE AS - These forms will open through any Adobe PDF software
product -READER or ACROBAT. Adobe PDF reader is a free product available by clicking the button at the top of this page. It is generally pre-installed on most computers, with the latest version being number 8. Distributed as free software it does not have all the features of a purchased version of Adobe Acrobat.
Important features that DO NOT function when using the free Reader software
are SAVE and SAVE AS.
If you have opened these HICS forms using ADOBE READER (free software)
you will be able to fill them out and print them, but once they are closed any
information that was typed onto the form will be lost.
If you have purchased and installed a copy of ADOBE ACROBAT then you
can save and re-name the form with all the information that you have entered still intact.
Some facilities may use a single computer network server in their Hospital
Command Center while other facilities may choose to use individual laptops that
are not part of a network in their disaster response. Please refer to the ADOBE
web site and the terms, usage and licensing agreements for their software products
to determine whether it is best for you to install the free READER or the purchased ACROBAT software to maximize the use of these forms in your HICS response program.
- Writing DATES in a NIMS format - These forms have been specifically formatted to force the user to write all dates in the standardized NIMS format of YYYY-MM-DD.
The form will reject any other date format. The date spaces will not accept text and will not autocorrect dates entered in a different format. While it may seem backwards and unusual to write a date this way, it does force all HICS users to be NIMS
compliant. If data is not entered correctly a prompt will appear explaining the
problem. This will be a training issue that needs to be confronted in preparing your
HICS team to use these forms.
- Writing TIME in a NIMS format - NIMS time is correctly written using a
24 hour clock. The time spaces on these HICS forms force the use of this format.
The forms are constructed to recognize an entry as a statement of time when a
colon ( : ) is placed between the hour and minute numerals. The form will not accept
a time entry of "2045 hours". It will accept "20:45" as an entry. If the data is not
entered in this format it will be rejected and a screen prompt will appear. Again this
will be a training point in preparing your HICS team.
- Text roll over - The vast majority of the spaces on these forms are intended to be occupied by just a few characters. There are some situations where entering more
text in a particular place on the form is appropriate. These typeable forms do allow
for the entry of more text than can be viewed in the designated space. When excess text is entered, a scroll bar appears and the text is recorded. It should be noted
however that this excess text WILL NOT PRINT completely. When printing a page
only the text that is currently on the screen will appear on the printed page. The
excess text is still part of the electronic form but it simply does not print. Again
this should not be too much of a problem if the forms are created and used in a
pure electronic environment.
To download a form place your cursor over the form and use the Right click button to
SAVE TARGET AS to your computer.
For further information about the proper use of any particular form and the information that should be recorded on it please refer to the HICS guidebook.
HICS 201 Incident Briefing
HICS 202 Incident Objectives
HICS 203 Organization Assignment List
HICS 204 Branch Assignment List
HICS 205 Incident Communications Log
HICS 206 Staff Medical Plan
HICS 207 Organization Chart
HICS 213 Incident Message Form
HICS 214 Operational Log
HICS 251 Facility System Status Report
HICS 252 Section Personnel Time Sheet
HICS 253 Volunteer Staff Registration
HICS 254 Disaster Victim Patient Tracking
HICS 255 Master Patient Evac Tracking Form
HICS 256 Procurement Summary Report
HICS 257 Resource Accounting Record
HICS 258 Hospital Resource Directory
HICS 259 Hospital Casualty Fatality Report
HICS 260 Patient Evacuation Tracking Form
HICS 261 Incident Action Plan Safety Analysis