Utilizing paramedics for in-patient critical care surge capacity INTRODUCTION: While many hospitals have developed preliminary emergency department and in-patient surge plans, the ability to surge is often limited by critical resources. The resource which is often the most limited is usually the human resource and within this category the limiting factor is almost universally nursing. As a result, nursing shortages can result in … Continue reading “Utilizing paramedics for in-patient critical care surge capacity” Learn More
Hospital Referral Patterns: How Emergency Medical Care is Accessed in a Disaster BACKGROUND: A prevalent assumption in hospital emergency preparedness planning is that patient arrival from a disaster scene will occur through a coordinated system of patient distribution based on the number of victims, capabilities of the receiving hospitals, and the nature and severity of illness or injury. In spite of the strength of the emergency medical … Continue reading “Hospital Referral Patterns: How Emergency Medical Care is Accessed in a Disaster” Learn More
Education and Training of Hospital Workers: Who Are Essential Personnel during a Disaster? Hospital plans often vary when it comes to the specific functional roles that are included in emergency and incident management positions. Bioterrorism coordinators and emergency managers for 31 hospitals in a seven-county region outside of a major metropolitan area, with urban, suburban, and rural demographics were surveyed to determine which specific functional roles were considered … Continue reading “Education and Training of Hospital Workers: Who Are Essential Personnel during a Disaster?” Learn More
Emergency Preparedness: Addressing the Needs of Persons with Disabilities In July 2004, President Bush signed an Executive Order explicitly stating the policy of the United States in the area of emergency preparedness for people with disabilities. The Executive Order built on The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), passed in 1990 “to provide a clear and comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination against … Continue reading “Emergency Preparedness: Addressing the Needs of Persons with Disabilities” Learn More
Pediatric Preparedness for Disasters, Terrorism and Public Health Emergencies: A National Consensus Conference: Executive Summary and Final Report In 2003, we convened experts from the multiple areas of expertise and disciplines involved in the planning for and care of children during times of disaster and terrorist events. The goals of this unprecedented meeting were to: 1) Build collaboration among individuals with expertise in emergency management, including disaster medicine, disaster planning, pediatric emergency medicine, … Continue reading “Pediatric Preparedness for Disasters, Terrorism and Public Health Emergencies: A National Consensus Conference: Executive Summary and Final Report” Learn More
Comfort level of emergency medical service providers in responding to weapons of mass destruction events: impact of training and equipment Background: Numerous studies have suggested that emergency medical services (EMS) providers are ill-prepared in the areas of training and equipment for response to events due to weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and other public health emergencies (epidemics, etc.). Methods: A nationally representative sample of basic and paramedic EMS providers in the United States was surveyed … Continue reading “Comfort level of emergency medical service providers in responding to weapons of mass destruction events: impact of training and equipment” Learn More
Bioterrorism Terrorism preparedness is a highly specific component of general emergency preparedness. In addition to the unique pediatric issues involved in general emergency preparedness, terrorism preparedness must consider several additional issues, including the unique vulnerabilities of children to various agents as well as the limited availability of age- and weight-appropriate antidotes and treatments. Although children may … Continue reading “Bioterrorism” Learn More
Public Health Department Training of Emergency Medical Technicians for Bioterrorism and Public Health Emergencies: Results of a National Assessment Hypothesis: The public health system has a specialized body of knowledge and expertise in bioterrorism and public health emergency management that can assist in the development and delivery of continuing medical education programs to meet the needs of emergency medical service providers. Methods: A nationally representative sample of the basic and paramedic emergency medical service … Continue reading “Public Health Department Training of Emergency Medical Technicians for Bioterrorism and Public Health Emergencies: Results of a National Assessment” Learn More
The Willingness of U.S. Emergency Medical Technicians to Respond to Terrorist Incidents A nationally representative sample of basic and paramedic emergency medical service providers in the United States was surveyed to assess their willingness to respond to terrorist incidents. EMTs were appreciably (9-13%) less willing than able to respond to such potential terrorist-related incidents as smallpox outbreaks, chemical attacks, or radioactive dirty bombs (p < 0.0001). EMTs … Continue reading “The Willingness of U.S. Emergency Medical Technicians to Respond to Terrorist Incidents” Learn More
Preparing Health Professions Students for Terrorism, Disaster, and Public Health Emergencies: Core Competencies The recent increased threat of terrorism, coupled with the ever-present dangers posed by natural disasters and public health emergencies, clearly support the need to incorporate bioterrorism preparedness and emergency response material into the curricula of every health professions school in the nation. A main barrier to health care preparedness in this country is a lack … Continue reading “Preparing Health Professions Students for Terrorism, Disaster, and Public Health Emergencies: Core Competencies” Learn More
Preparing for disasters: What should you know, and when should you know it? Three waves of terrorism have ushered in a new era in public health, safety, and health care in the United States: The February 26, 1993 explosions at New York’s World Trade Center, the April 19, 1995 bombing at the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, and the September 11, 2001 attacks, along with the anthrax … Continue reading “Preparing for disasters: What should you know, and when should you know it?” Learn More
Uncommon Sense, Uncommon Courage: How the New York City School System, Its Teachers, Leadership and Students Responded to the Terror of September 11 Eight public schools are situated within a quarter mile of Ground Zero with 9,000 students ranging in ages from three to eighteen years – grammar, middle and high schools. On Tuesday, September 11, 2001 in the midst of chaos and a relentless unfolding of tragedy, professionals of the Board of Education safely evacuated all 9,000 … Continue reading “Uncommon Sense, Uncommon Courage: How the New York City School System, Its Teachers, Leadership and Students Responded to the Terror of September 11” Learn More
Pediatric Terrorism Preparedness National Guidelines and Recommendations: Findings of an Evidenced-based Consensus Process A cadre of experts and stakeholders from government agencies, professional organizations, emergency medicine and response, pediatrics, mental health, and disaster preparedness were gathered to review and summarize the existing data on the needs of children in the planning, preparation, and response to disasters or terrorism. This review was followed by development of evidence-based consensus guidelines … Continue reading “Pediatric Terrorism Preparedness National Guidelines and Recommendations: Findings of an Evidenced-based Consensus Process” Learn More
How Americans Feel About Terrorism and Security: Three Years After September 11 The following is a product of The National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP) at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, commissioned in collaboration with The Children’s Health Fund (CHF), and conducted by the Marist Institute for Public Opinion. NCDP is a major national and international resource in disaster and terrorism readiness. NCDP includes one … Continue reading “How Americans Feel About Terrorism and Security: Three Years After September 11” Learn More
How Americans Feel About Terrorism And Security: Two Years After 9/11 Understanding attitudes, concerns and reactions of individuals and families is critical to emergency planning efforts on all levels. In order to have effective implementation of a disaster plan, people need to be confident in (a) the reliability of information from official sources, (b) the capacity of government to perform effectively in a crisis and (c) … Continue reading “How Americans Feel About Terrorism And Security: Two Years After 9/11” Learn More
Disaster and Terrorism Preparedness: What Pediatricians Need To Know This chapter is designed to provide an overview of key issues for the pediatrician with respect to terrorism and disaster preparedness. It is not intended to be a complete compendium of didactic content, but it does represent an approach to understanding what needs to be learned by the pediatrician on this difficult topic and how … Continue reading “Disaster and Terrorism Preparedness: What Pediatricians Need To Know” Learn More
Pediatric Preparedness for Disasters and Terrorism: A National Consensus Conference: Executive Summary In a time of crisis, it is essential to ensure the needs of children are being met in planning and preparing for disasters and terrorist events. The current adult models and guidelines cannot be applied to the care of children. We convened experts from the multiple areas of expertise and disciplines involved in the planning … Continue reading “Pediatric Preparedness for Disasters and Terrorism: A National Consensus Conference: Executive Summary” Learn More
