Preparing for compounding crises: Staff shortages and cyber-attack vulnerability in the era of COVID-19 In 2020, while the USA was experiencing successive waves of COVID-19, Universal Health Services experienced a major cyber attack that crippled electronic systems in over 200 hospitals, including a major academic medical centre that was playing a key regional role in COVID-19 care and clinical trials. This paper discusses the impact of the attack on … Continue reading “Preparing for compounding crises: Staff shortages and cyber-attack vulnerability in the era of COVID-19” Learn More
Establishing a Foundation for Performance Measurement for Local Public Health Preparedness The development of performance measures is not a new concept in the disaster preparedness space. For over a decade, goals have been developed and tied to federal preparedness grant programs. However, these measures have been heavily criticized for their inability to truly measure preparedness. There is also growing frustration at the local level that these … Continue reading “Establishing a Foundation for Performance Measurement for Local Public Health Preparedness” Learn More
Chronic Disease After Natural Disasters: Public Health, Policy, and Provider Perspectives Individuals with chronic conditions require special attention in the planning, response, and recovery phases of disasters, given their unique needs for medication, medical equipment, continued medical care, and the potential for exacerbation of their conditions that require resource-intensive management. In addition to exacerbating existing disease, disasters also contribute to the development of new chronic illnesses. … Continue reading “Chronic Disease After Natural Disasters: Public Health, Policy, and Provider Perspectives” Learn More
Economic Burden of Hospitalizations for Heat-Related Illnesses in the United States, 2001–2010 Understanding how heat waves affect morbidity and mortality, as well as the associated economic costs, is essential for characterizing the human health impacts of extreme heat under a changing climate. Only a handful of studies have examined healthcare costs associated with exposures to high temperatures. This research explores costs associated with hospitalizations for heat-related illness … Continue reading “Economic Burden of Hospitalizations for Heat-Related Illnesses in the United States, 2001–2010” Learn More
Crisis Decision-Making During Hurricane Sandy: An Analysis of Established and Emergent Disaster Response Behaviors in the New York Metro Area Objective This collective case study examined how and why specific organizational decision-making processes transpired at 2 large suburban county health departments in lower New York State during their response to Hurricane Sandy in 2012. The study also examined the relationships that the agencies developed with other emerging and established organizations within their respective health systems. … Continue reading “Crisis Decision-Making During Hurricane Sandy: An Analysis of Established and Emergent Disaster Response Behaviors in the New York Metro Area” Learn More
The Medical Home and Care Coordination in Disaster Recovery: Hypothesis for Interventions and Research In postdisaster settings, health care providers encounter secondary surges of unmet primary care and mental health needs that evolve throughout disaster recovery phases. Whatever a community’s predisaster adequacy of health care, postdisaster gaps are similar to those of any underserved region. We hypothesize that existing practice and evidence supporting medical homes and care coordination in … Continue reading “The Medical Home and Care Coordination in Disaster Recovery: Hypothesis for Interventions and Research” Learn More
Disaster Prepared: How Federal Funding in the United States Supports Health System and Public Health Readiness Federal funding for health and medical preparedness in the United States has created an important foundation for preparing the health and medical systems to respond to a wide range of hazards. A declining trend in funding for these preparedness activities threatens to undo the progress that has been made over the last decade, and reduce … Continue reading “Disaster Prepared: How Federal Funding in the United States Supports Health System and Public Health Readiness” Learn More
Climate Change and Health: The Nurse's Role in Policy and Practice Widespread scientific consensus exists that the world’s climate is changing, with a majority of scientists in agreement that anthropogenic climate change is having increasingly adverse effects on human health (National Aeronautics and Space Administration [NASA] Global Climate Change, 2018; U.S. Global Change Research Program [USGCRP], 2017). Some of these changes include rising temperatures, more variable … Continue reading “Climate Change and Health: The Nurse’s Role in Policy and Practice” Learn More
Preparedness—A Reminder for the Public What should citizens do – or not do – at a time when threat levels are raised and we are painfully reminded that living with a certain level of risk is a reality of our times? Of course, this isn’t a question of terrorism, alone. We are also concerned about natural disasters or sever flu … Continue reading “Preparedness—A Reminder for the Public” Learn More
