HICS

Medical abbreviation · Emergency Medicine

HICS stands for Hospital Incident Command System, an emergency medicine abbreviation.

Version of the Incident Command System adapted for hospitals, used to manage disasters, surges, outages and other emergencies with clear roles and job action sheets.

Example: HICS activated for ice storm: labor pool and staging established.

Usage notes

Maintained by the California Emergency Medical Services Authority and used nationwide. Hospitals practice HICS in exercises required by accreditors. Job action sheets tell each role what to do in the first hours.

Related abbreviations

More emergency medicine abbreviations

• FB – Foreign body
• GLF – Ground-level fall
• GSW – Gunshot wound
• HCP – Health care proxy
• HCPOA – Health care power of attorney
• HEMS – Helicopter emergency medical services
• ICS – Incident Command System
• IFT – Interfacility transport
• IHCA – In-hospital cardiac arrest
• ISS – Injury Severity Score
• KED – Kendrick Extrication Device
• lac – Laceration

See all 97 emergency medicine abbreviations →

Edited by the AbbreviationList.com team. Spotted an error or a missing meaning? Contact us.

This entry is for general education and is not medical advice. Abbreviation use varies between institutions; always confirm in context.