Medical Reserve Corps Core Competencies Training

The MRC Core Competencies serve as the national training standard for MRC volunteers. They represent a baseline level of knowledge and skills that all MRC volunteers should have, regardless of their role within the MRC unit. This training is recommended for all CRC volunteers. 

The competencies are aligned into four MRC Learning Paths: Volunteer Preparedness, Volunteer Response, Volunteer Leadership, and Volunteer Support for Community Resiliency. Courses addressing each of the four learning paths are listed at the site linked above. There is a wealth of information in these individualized, self-paced courses, and you take as few or as many or as few as you’d like; allowing you to tailor your learning experience to your interests and time that you have available. 

The courses, themselves, are housed at the MRC-Train site. Before taking any of the courses, you’ll need to register at https://www.train.org/mrc/welcome .   Select “Create New Account” on the left side of the page.

After you register, you’ll be able to take any of the courses at the MRC-Train site, but the following sequence is suggested to provide an overall introduction to the MRC and the four MRC Training Paths:

  1. Choose and complete one introductory (Level 3 or Level 4) course from each of the 4 Learning Paths below (found at: 2019-MRC-Core-Competencies-and-Training-Plan.pdf ).  The courses at the link marked with an asterisk are recommended as a first course in each path, as they are foundational and provide CEUs for many professions. 
    • Volunteer Preparedness (page 19)
    • Volunteer Response (page 20)
    • Volunteer Leadership (page 21)
    • Volunteer Response for Community Resilience (page 22)
  1. Click the “MRC-Train” link associated with each course to go to the course
  2. You must be registered with, and logged in to, MRC Train, as above
  3. Click the green “+Register” button at the top right to enroll in the course
  4. Courses with a red asterisk offer CEUs for various professions. To go to the CEU page, click “Show More” on the course description/start page and follow the instructions. The first time you do this, you’ll need to register with APHA, but for subsequent courses you can use your email and the password that they’ll assign by email.
  5. Take additional courses as you wish and are interested.
  6. Please advise Mike Stockman (mstockman@frederickcountymd.gov) of any courses that you complete so that your training record can be updated.
  7. If you’re having difficulty or have any questions, email Mike Stockman as above.

PLEASE NOTE: There appears to be a glitch in some of the courses in the MRC-Train platform that prevents the user from re-entering a course once it has been started then subsequently exited. As a result, please don’t try to exit then re-enter courses; the platform may prevent you from doing so. Plan on completing a course once you have initiated it.