scholarly journals Addressing Children’s Needs in Disasters: A Regional Pediatric Tabletop Exercise

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 582-586 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarita Chung ◽  
Aaron H. Gardner ◽  
David J. Schonfeld ◽  
Jessica L. Franks ◽  
Marvin So ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Public Health Emergency ◽  
Public Health Preparedness ◽  
Public Health Emergencies ◽  
Emergency Scenario ◽  
Level Of Confidence ◽  
Public Health Officials ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Collaboration Strategies

AbstractObjectivePreparing and responding to the needs of children during public health emergencies continues to be challenging. The purpose of this study was to assess the usefulness of a tabletop exercise in initiating pediatric preparedness strategies and assessing the impact of the exercise on participants’ understanding of and confidence in their roles during pediatric public health emergencies.MethodsA tabletop exercise was developed to simulate a public health emergency scenario involving smallpox in a child, with subsequent spread to multiple states. During the exercise, participants discussed and developed communication, collaboration, and medical countermeasure strategies to enhance pediatric public health preparedness. Exercise evaluation was designed to assess participants’ knowledge gained and level of confidence surrounding pediatric public health emergencies.ResultsIn total, 22 participants identified over 100 communication and collaboration strategies to promote pediatric public health preparedness during the exercise and found that the most beneficial aspect during the exercise was the partnership between pediatricians and public health officials. Participants’ knowledge and level of confidence surrounding a pediatric public health emergency increased after the exercise.ConclusionThe tabletop exercise was effective in identifying strategies to improve pediatric public health preparedness as well as enhancing participants’ knowledge and confidence surrounding a potential pediatric public health emergency. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2018;12:582–586)

scholarly journals The challenge of bringing evidence in decision-making for public health emergencies: can preparedness reach out to HTA?

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
C E Chronaki ◽  
A Miglietta
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Resource Planning ◽  
Public Health Emergency ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Public Health Emergencies ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Evidence Based Decision Making

Abstract Evidence-based decision-making is central to public health. Implementing evidence-informed actions is most challenging during a public health emergency as in an epidemic, when time is limited, scientific uncertainties and political pressures tend to be high, and reliable data is typically lacking. The process of including data for preparedness and training for evidence-based decision making in public health emergencies is not systematic and is complicated by many barriers as the absence of common digital tools and approaches for resource planning and update of response plans. Health Technology Assessment (HTA) is used with the aim to improve the quality and efficiency of public health interventions and to make healthcare systems more sustainable. Many of today's public health crises are also cross-border, and countries need to collaborate in a systematic and standardized way in order to enhance interoperability to share data and to plan coordinated response. Digital health tools have an important role to play in this setting, facilitating use of knowledge about the population that can potentially affected by the crisis within and across regional and national borders. To strengthen the impact of scientific evidence on decision-making for public health emergency preparedness and response, it is necessary to better define and align mechanisms through which interdisciplinary evidence feeds into decision-making processes during public health emergencies and the context in which these mechanisms operate. Activities and policy development in the HTA network could inform this process. The objective of this presentation is to identify barriers for evidence-based decision making during public health emergencies and discuss how standardization in digital health and HTA processes may help overcome these barriers leading to more effective coordinated and evidence-based public health emergency response.

Impact of Tabletop Exercises on Participants’ Knowledge of and Confidence in Legal Authorities for Infectious Disease Emergencies

2009 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 104-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Savoia ◽  
Paul D. Biddinger ◽  
Priscilla Fox ◽  
Donna E. Levin ◽  
Lisa Stone ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Infectious Disease ◽  
The State ◽  
System Level ◽  
Legal Issue ◽  
Fisher Exact Test ◽  
Public Health Preparedness ◽  
Level Of Confidence ◽  
Policies And Procedures ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACTObjective: Legal preparedness is a critical component of comprehensive public health preparedness for public health emergencies. The scope of this study was to assess the usefulness of combining didactic sessions with a tabletop exercise as educational tools in legal preparedness, to assess the impact of the exercise on the participants’ level of confidence about the legal preparedness of a public health system, and to identify legal issue areas in need of further improvement.Methods: The exercise scenario and the pre- and postexercise evaluation were designed to assess knowledge gained and level of confidence in declaration of emergencies, isolation and quarantine, restrictions (including curfew) on the movement of people, closure of public places, and mass prophylaxis, and to identify legal preparedness areas most in need of further improvement at the system level. Fisher exact test and paired t test were performed to compare pre- and postexercise results.Results: Our analysis shows that a combination of didactic teaching and experiential learning through a tabletop exercise regarding legal preparedness for infectious disease emergencies can be effective in both imparting perceived knowledge to participants and gathering information about sufficiency of authorities and existence of gaps.Conclusions: The exercise provided a valuable forum to judge the adequacy of legal authorities, policies, and procedures for dealing with pandemic influenza at the state and local levels in Massachusetts. In general, participants were more confident about the availability and sufficiency of legal authorities than they were about policies and procedures for implementing them. Participants were also more likely to report the need for improvement in authorities, policies, and procedures in the private sector and at the local level than at the state level. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2009;3:104–110)

Timed Influence Nets Based Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Public Health Emergency Scenario

2014 ◽  
Vol 971-973 ◽  
pp. 2442-2447
Author(s):  
Hua He ◽  
Shan Mei ◽  
Yi Fan Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Public Health Emergency ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Health Emergencies ◽  
Emergency Scenario ◽  
Scenario Evaluation ◽  
Pros And Cons ◽  
Emergency Actions ◽  
And Control ◽  
Relationship Of

By analysis the causal relationship of the public health emergency actions and effects, then establish a generalized model for the prevention and control of public health emergencies by Timed Influence Net (TIN), and on this basis of probability reasoning, inference result can assist analysis the pros and cons the emergency scenario. Method was applied to the example of SARS outbreak in Beijing in 2003 to show the rationality and validity of proposed method. According to the results have a study on the optimization of emergency scenario, optimized conditions comparative and analysis with the actual program. The results show that the proposed method can better support emergency scenario evaluation and optimization.

scholarly journals IMPACT OF PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCIES ON THE COMPREHENSIVE EDUCATION OF MEDICAL STUDENTS IN COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF NARRATIVE MEDICINE

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (spe) ◽  
pp. 31-33
Author(s):  
Jing Zhang ◽  
Xiaowei Li
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Cloud Computing ◽  
Medical Students ◽  
Colleges And Universities ◽  
Public Health Emergency ◽  
Public Health Emergencies ◽  
Comprehensive Education ◽  
Comprehensive Literacy ◽  
Analysis Platform ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACT The impact of traditional public health emergencies on the comprehensive education of medical students in colleges and universities is mainly reflected in the test of comprehensive literacy. Based on this, this paper studies the construction of a public health emergency impact analysis platform from a medical perspective and cloud computing. From the platform’s database construction, event collection methods, impact evaluation rules and other aspects to achieve accurate analysis of the impact of emergencies, using the cloud computing method for comprehensive analysis and evaluation, the algorithm can analyze and intelligently classify information data on the Internet in the process of multiple input, and respond to potential public health emergencies according to cloud computing technology, in order to analyze the impact on the comprehensive quality of medical students. The experimental results show that the public health emergency analysis platform has the advantages of high feasibility and high data utilization, and can effectively improve the impact of public health emergencies on the comprehensive literacy of medical students.

scholarly journals Public Perception of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Chinese Social Networking Service (Weibo): Sentiment Analysis and Fuzzy-C-Means Model

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Feng Han ◽  
ZiHeng Zhang ◽  
HongJian Zhang ◽  
Tomohiko Aoki ◽  
Katsuhiko Ogasawara
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Reference Material ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
Public Health Emergency ◽  
Media Analysis ◽  
The Public ◽  
Fuzzy C Means ◽  
Public Health Emergencies ◽  
Public Sentiment ◽  
The Impact

Abstract BackgroundSocial media analysis tools have been used to monitor public sentiment and communication methods during public health emergencies.Public health emergencies are required to better understand the impact of the crisis on the public and to provide reference material for the prevention of future public health emergencies. We are concentrating on the sentiments around the public health emergency created by COVID-19.ObjectiveThis study aims to better understand the impact of public health emergencies on citizens and provide reference material for future public health emergency prevention.MethodsThe Fuzzy-c-means method was used to divide the 850,083 content of Weibo from January 24, 2020, to March 31, 2020, into seven categories of emotions: fear, happiness, disgust, surprise, sadness, anger, and good. The changes in emotion were tracked over time.ResultsThe results indicated that people showed "surprise" overall (55.89%); however with time, the "surprise" decreased. As the knowledge regarding the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) increased (contents about COVID-19 knowledge: from 21.16% to 4.19%), the "surprise" of the citizens decreased (from 59.95% to 46.58%). Citizens' feelings of "fear" and "good" increased as the number of deaths associated with COVID-19 increased ("fear”: from 15.42% to 20.95% "good”: 10.31% to 18.89%). As the infection was suppressed, the feelings of "fear" and "good" diminished ("fear”: from 20.95% to 15.79% "good”: from 18.89% to 8.46%).ConclusionsIn this study, the emotions and changes in emotions of Weibo users were analyzed in chronological order. The results of this study can prepare for future public health emergencies.

Postexposure Interventions to Prevent Infection With HBV, HCV, or HIV, and Tetanus in People Wounded During Bombings and Other Mass Casualty Events—United States, 2008: Recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness

2008 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 150-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louisa E. Chapman ◽  
Ernest E. Sullivent ◽  
Lisa A. Grohskopf ◽  
Elise M. Beltrami ◽  
Joseph F. Perz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Disease Control ◽  
Emergency Response ◽  
Mass Casualty ◽  
Acute Injury ◽  
Mass Casualties ◽  
Public Health Preparedness ◽  
Mass Casualty Event ◽  
Public Health Officials ◽  
Centers For Disease Control

ABSTRACTPeople wounded during bombings or other events resulting in mass casualties or in conjunction with the resulting emergency response may be exposed to blood, body fluids, or tissue from other injured people and thus be at risk for bloodborne infections such as hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, human immunodeficiency virus, or tetanus. This report adapts existing general recommendations on the use of immunization and postexposure prophylaxis for tetanus and for occupational and nonoccupational exposures to bloodborne pathogens to the specific situation of a mass casualty event. Decisions regarding the implementation of prophylaxis are complex, and drawing parallels from existing guidelines is difficult. For any prophylactic intervention to be implemented effectively, guidance must be simple, straightforward, and logistically undemanding. Critical review during development of this guidance was provided by representatives of the National Association of County and City Health Officials, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, and representatives of the acute injury care, trauma, and emergency response medical communities participating in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Terrorism Injuries: Information, Dissemination and Exchange project. The recommendations contained in this report represent the consensus of US federal public health officials and reflect the experience and input of public health officials at all levels of government and the acute injury response community. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2008;2:150–165)

Preparedness 3.0: Addressing the Future

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 728-729 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georges C. Benjamin
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Climate Change ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Extreme Weather ◽  
Common Occurrence ◽  
Public Health Preparedness ◽  
Public Health Emergencies ◽  
State Sponsorship ◽  
The Future

ABSTRACTThe last 14 years has taught us that that we are facing a new reality; a reality in which public health emergencies are a common occurrence. Today, we live in a world with dangerous people without state sponsorship who are an enormous threat to our safety; one where emerging and reemerging infectious diseases are waiting to break out; a world where the benefits of globalization in trade, transportation, and social media brings threats to our communities faster and with a greater risk than ever before. Even climate change has entered into the preparedness equation, bringing with it the forces of nature in the form of extreme weather and its complications. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2015;9:728–729)

scholarly journals 18.H. Workshop: Bringing evidence during public health emergencies: addressing the challenge through HTA

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Emergency Preparedness ◽  
Public Health Emergency ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Public Health Emergencies ◽  
Response Planning ◽  
Emergency Preparedness And Response ◽  
Public Health Emergency Preparedness

Abstract Evidence-based decision-making is central to public health. Implementing evidence-informed actions is most challenging during a public health emergency as in an epidemic, when time is limited, scientific uncertainties and political pressures tend to be high, and irrefutable evidence may be lacking. The process of including evidence in public health decision-making and for evidence-informed policy, in preparation, and during public health emergencies, is not systematic and is complicated by many barriers as the absences of shared tools and approaches for evidence-based preparedness and response planning. Many of today's public health crises are also cross-border, and countries need to collaborate in a systematic and standardized way in order to enhance interoperability and to implement coordinated evidence-based response plans. To strengthen the impact of scientific evidence on decision-making for public health emergency preparedness and response, it is necessary to better define mechanisms through which interdisciplinary evidence feeds into decision-making processes during public health emergencies and the context in which these mechanisms operate. As a multidisciplinary, standardized and evidence-based decision-making tool, Health Technology Assessment (HTA) represents and approach that can inform public health emergency preparedness and response planning processes; it can also provide meaningful insights on existing preparedness structures, working as bridge between scientists and decision-makers, easing knowledge transition and translation to ensure that evidence is effectively integrated into decision-making contexts. HTA can address the link between scientific evidence and decision-making in public health emergencies, and overcome the key challenges faced by public health experts when advising decision makers, including strengthening and accelerating knowledge transfer through rapid HTA, improving networking between actors and disciplines. It may allow a 360° perspective, providing a comprehensive view to decision-making in preparation and during public health emergencies. The objective of the workshop is to explore and present how HTA can be used as a shared and systematic evidence-based tool for Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response, in order to enable stakeholders and decision makers taking actions based on the best available evidence through a process which is systematic and transparent. Key messages There are many barriers and no shared mechanisms to bring evidence in decision-making during public health emergencies. HTA can represent the tool to bring evidence-informed actions in public health emergency preparedness and response.

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