Results for: 2009

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?”

Public health risk communication is a central feature of New York City’s pandemic flu preparedness plan. Particularly in the early stages of a pandemic, before effective therapeutic measures are available, non-pharmaceutical interventions such as social distancing, personal protective hygiene, and voluntary isolation are critical strategies for suppressing the spread of a novel viral strain. New …

Continue reading “Broadcasting Flu Messages – Citywide Transmission and Community Reception: An Evaluation of Ready New York’s pandemic influenza outreach campaign”

Objectives: An influenza pandemic, as with any disaster involving contagion or contamination, has the potential to influence the number of health care employees who will report for duty. Our project assessed the uptake of proposed interventions to mitigate absenteeism in hospital workers during a pandemic. Methods: Focus groups were followed by an Internet-based survey of …

Continue reading “Mitigating absenteeism in hospital workers during a pandemic”

Public health agencies make decisions that have far reaching consequences, and geography impacts these decisions on a daily basis. Geographic information systems (GIS) are powerful computer software programs which can enable agency staff to visualize spatial information in new ways, so that they can become better planners and problem solvers, particularly in the areas of …

Continue reading “The Incorporation of GIS Technologies in Emergency Preparedness and Response”

This is the third consensus document in an ongoing process to convene experts from the multiple disciplines that are involved in the planning for children affected by disasters.

The category 2 Hurricane Gustav made landfall on the Louisiana Coast on Sept. 1, 2008, nearly three years to the day after Hurricane Katrina, resulting in an evacuation of approximately 2 million people and considerable property damage. Although it did not match the intensity or consequence of Hurricane Katrina, the experience of anticipating and responding …

Continue reading “Second Wind: The Impact of Hurricane Gustav on Children and Families Who Survived Katrina”

This article is part of a collaborative effort by experts in the field of emergency preparedness to complete an overview begun by the late Michael Shannon, MD, MPH, on the current challenges and future directions in pediatric disaster readiness. This particular article, “The Future of Pediatric Preparedness,” will offer a perspective on future directions in …

Continue reading “The Future of Pediatric Preparedness”