Striving towards an effective emergency preparedness and disaster management response: Lessons learned and future directions

Author(s):  
Adel Elkbuli ◽  
Maria Herrera ◽  
Muhammed Awan ◽  
Carol Elassad
Author(s):  
Chieri Yamada ◽  
Bolormaa Tsedendamba ◽  
Amarbileg Shajbalidir ◽  
Teruko Horiuchi ◽  
Katsuko Suenaga ◽  
...  

Abstract Excessive radiation exposure has adverse effects on health. In Fukushima, psychological issues such as anxiety are still affecting people nine years after the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident in 2011. In light of the lessons learned from Fukushima communities, a joint Japanese and Mongolian research team introduced a community program to the Zuunbayan district in Mongolia, which is located near a uranium deposit, to promote good health by strengthening radiation emergency preparedness. The program, which commenced in 2017, aimed to increase community participation, education, information dissemination, and capacity of community preparedness. After two years a monitoring study showed that, out of 227 respondents, the proportions who thought that any level of radiation was dangerous decreased from 53.3% in 2017 to 33.9% in 2019. Moreover, half of the respondents knew that there were safe and unsafe radiation levels and that their community was safe. This global collaboration demonstrated that a lesson learned from a disaster can be applied to other countries and changed people’s recognition and behavior toward good health and disaster/emergency preparedness.


2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erica Wilson ◽  
Rachelle Bernacki ◽  
Joshua R. Lakin ◽  
Corinne Alexander ◽  
Vicki Jackson ◽  
...  

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 61-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth D. Ward

Treating tobacco dependence is paramount for global tobacco control efforts, but is often overshadowed by other policy priorities. As stated by Jha (2009), “cessation by current smokers is the only practical way to avoid a substantial proportion of tobacco deaths worldwide before 2050.” Its importance is codified in Article 14 of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), and in the WHO's MPOWER package of effective country-level policies. Unfortunately, only 15% of the world's population have access to appropriate cessation support (WHO, 2015). Moreover, parties to the FCTC have implemented only 51% of the indicators within Article 14, on average, which is far lower than many other articles (WHO, 2014). Further, commenting on the use of “O” measures (Offer help to quit tobacco use) in the MPOWER acronym, WHO recently concluded, “while there has been improvement in implementing comprehensive tobacco cessation services, this is nonetheless a most under-implemented MPOWER measure in terms of the number of countries that have fully implemented it” (WHO, 2015). To the detriment of global tobacco control efforts, only one in eight countries provides comprehensive cost-covered services, only one in four provide some cost coverage for nicotine replacement therapy, and fewer than one third provide a toll-free quit line (WHO, 2015).


2003 ◽  
Vol 37 ◽  
pp. S107-S112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel Gittelsohn ◽  
Sally M Davis ◽  
Allan Steckler ◽  
Becky Ethelbah ◽  
Theresa Clay ◽  
...  

2011 ◽  
Vol 26 (S1) ◽  
pp. s141-s141
Author(s):  
E.L. Dhondt ◽  
T. Peeters ◽  
L. Orlans

BackgroundAccording to the Belgian Hospital Disaster Planning Act, all hospitals are required to have written disaster plans and to routinely conduct annual disaster drills. In 2010, the management of the Military Hospital decided to organize an evacuation exercise of the newly built 24-bed BU.AimTo evaluate this new BU's evacuation plan and drills and the overall hospital emergency incident response and command system.Methods and ResultsIt was decided to conduct a simulated evacuation exercise following an internal fire, before the BU effectively was put into use, thereby deploying fashioned simulated patients and visitors but bringing into action the regular attending medical, nursing and logistic staff. A multidisciplinary design and organizing team was launched, consisting of the hospitals disaster preparedness coordinator, the EMS-staff, external burn care, emergency incident management and operational engineering experts. The appointed objectives for evaluation were the knowledge of the regular evacuation drills, especially the clearance of an intensive care room; access to evacuation routes; visibility of safety guidelines; mission and tasks of the hospital's first response team and the medical incident manager; communication and information flow and the establishment of the hospital's coordination committee. In the mean time and following lessons learned, a number of mitigation measures have been instituted: adequate identification of evacuated rooms, new configuration of the fire detection alarm, optimized access to stairwells and elevators, adjustment of action cards and specific fire fighting training for hospital staff. Finally the decision was made not to purchase specific evacuation equipment for the movement of patients.ConclusionTaking advantage of the BU's provisional vacancy, a simulated hospital evacuation exercise increased the hospital emergency preparedness, awareness and response to disasters within the hospital, in particular in a critical care department, otherwise difficult to assess.


Author(s):  
Susan Alexander ◽  
Haley Hoy ◽  
Manil Maskey ◽  
Helen Conover ◽  
John Gamble ◽  
...  

The knowledge base for healthcare providers working in the field of organ transplantation has grown exponentially. However, the field has no centralized ‘space’ dedicated to efficient access and sharing of information.The ease of use and portability of mobile applications (apps) make them ideal for subspecialists working in complex healthcare environments. In this article, the authors review the literature related to healthcare technology; describe the development of health-related technology; present their mobile app pilot project assessing the effects of a collaborative, mobile app based on a freely available content manage framework; and report their findings. They conclude by sharing both lessons learned while completing this project and future directions.


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