When the deadly Ebola virus travelled into the United States, many healthcare workers were not adequately prepared to manage the care, treatment, and transport of such patients. As a result, hospitals and other healthcare facilities now are scrambling to educate their personnel on this and other deadly biothreats before the next incident occurs.
Emergency service fields traditionally have relied on hands-on educational strategies. However, online options are becoming more attractive because of their flexibility, availability, and cost. By matching a person’s learning style with an educational environment that is conducive to that style, professionals can continue their educational journey in new and exciting ways.
Preparedness planning is a large part of the foundation of emergency management. The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) National Preparedness Report summarizes the building, sustaining, and delivering of the 31 […]
The constantly changing natural and societal environments create an ongoing challenge to design and maintain current and relevant emergency management plans. Exercises, in particular national level exercises, are an effective way to identify capability strengths and areas for improvement as well as to amend existing plans.
Federal, state, and local law enforcement, with a focus on combating criminal activity, is well aligned with homeland security initiatives. The attacks of 9/11 exposed the need for local law […]
Although emergency managers plan for all types of disasters that could potentially occur within or around their jurisdictions, cyberattacks present unique challenges when identifying the nature of, and understanding how to respond to, such threats. A true all-hazards approach to emergency preparedness necessarily includes protecting communities against cyberthreats.
The Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP), administered by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR), provides grant funding to states in order to support sustainable community healthcare coalitions (HCCs), improve medical surge capacity, and enhance community and hospital preparedness in the event of a public health emergency.
Law enforcement and emergency management planning actions for active shooter incidents can have large payoffs for communities. For example, emergency managers can assist law enforcement officers in using resources that emergency operations centers can provide, developing training exercises, and securing grant funding for mitigation efforts, training, and equipment.
Three previous public health articles in the November 2013, March 2014, and July 2014 issues of the DomPrep Journal broadly examined serious pathogenic threats that are emerging and evolving around the world to assess preparedness levels […]
Healthcare planning begins with partnerships that can break down walls to allow healthcare providers and their public health and emergency management partners to work together. The National Healthcare Coalition Preparedness Conference brought together many of these stakeholders to promote strategies for regional healthcare readiness through healthcare coalitions.