Tracking antimicrobials dispensed during an anthrax attack: A case study from the New Hampshire anthrax exercise

The Countermeasure and Response Administration (CRA) system is a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention informatics application developed to track countermeasures, including medical interventions (eg, vaccinations and pharmaceuticals) and nonmedical interventions (eg, patient isolation, quarantine, and personal protective equipment), administered during a public health response. This case study follows the use of CRA as a supplement to paper-based processes during an exercise in which antimicrobials dispensed to individual exposed persons were captured after a simulated bioterrorist attack of anthrax spores. The exercise was conducted by the New Hampshire Division of Public Health Services on April 14, 2007.Automated systems like CRA can track when medications are dispensed. The data can then be used for performance metrics, statistics, and in locating victims for follow-up study. Given that this case study was limited to a single location in a relatively rural setting, the authors concluded that more study is needed to compare the feasibility of using an automated system rather than paper-based processes for effectively managing a very large-scale urgent public health response.

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Using the Essential Public Health Services as Strategic Leverage to Strengthen the Public Health Response to Diabetes

Public Health Reports ◽

10.1016/j.phr.2004.04.010 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 119 (3) ◽

pp. 311-321 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Dawn W. Satterfield ◽

Dara Murphy ◽

Joyce D.K. Essien ◽

Gwen Hosey ◽

Melissa Stankus ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Health Services ◽

Public Health Services ◽

Public Health Response ◽

The Public ◽

Essential Public Health Services ◽

Health Response

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Surveying the local public health response to COVID-19 in Canada: Study protocol

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0259590 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (11) ◽

pp. e0259590

Author(s):

Charles Plante ◽

Thilina Bandara ◽

Lori Baugh Littlejohns ◽

Navdeep Sandhu ◽

Anh Pham ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Health Services ◽

Study Protocol ◽

Health Unit ◽

Public Health Services ◽

Public Health Response ◽

Local Public Health ◽

Systems Research ◽

Health Response ◽

Medical Health

Background Public health services and systems research is under-developed in Canada and this is particularly the case with respect to research on local public health unit operational functioning and capacity. The purpose of this paper is to report on a study that will collect retrospective information on the local public health response to COVID-19 throughout Canada between 2020 and 2021. Methods/Design The goal of the study is to develop and implement a study framework that will collect retrospective information on the local public health system response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. This study will involve administering a mixed-method survey to Medical Health Officers/Medical Officers of Health in every local and regional public health unit across the country, followed by a process of coding and grouping these responses in a consistent and comparable way. Coded responses will be assessed for patterns of divergent or convergent roles and approaches of local public health across the country with respect to interventions in their response to COVID-19. The Framework Method of thematic analysis will be applied to assess the qualitative answers to the open-ended questions that speak to public health policy features. Discussion The strengths of the study protocol include the engagement of Medical Health Officers/Medical Officers of Health as research partners and a robust integrated knowledge translation approach to further public health services and systems research in Canada.

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Case study: Detention to prevent transmission of tuberculosis: a proportionate public health response?

New South Wales Public Health Bulletin ◽

10.1071/nb11046 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 23 (6) ◽

pp. 120 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Stephen Conaty

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Public Health Response ◽

Health Response

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Bioterrorism

10.1093/med/9780198816805.003.0076 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 287-296

Author(s):

Peter Katona

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Surveillance System ◽

Disease Surveillance ◽

Global Economy ◽

Large Scale ◽

Severe Disease ◽

Public Health Response ◽

Health Response ◽

Bioterrorism Agent ◽

Public Health Surveillance System

History shows us that individuals have used and likely will continue to use biological agents for terrorism purposes. Bioterrorism agents can be easily disseminated, cause severe disease and high mortality rates if cases are not treated properly, and pose significant challenges for management and response. A robust public health surveillance system that includes laboratory (including routine reportable disease surveillance), syndromic, and environmental surveillance is crucial for detection of the release of a bioterrorism agent and the resulting cases. This detection can then set into motion a robust and comprehensive public health response to minimize morbidity and mortality. A large-scale bioterrorism event would be unprecedented, straining and challenging every facet of medical and public health response and would quickly become a global emergency because of both the potential risk of infection and the shock to the global economy. A robust public health and medical workforce is necessary to respond effectively and efficiently to these types of events.

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Religious Freedom vs. Compelled Vaccination: A Case-Study of the 2018–2019 Measles Pandemic - or The Law as a Public Health Response

SSRN Electronic Journal ◽

10.2139/ssrn.3775590 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Barbara P. Billauer

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Religious Freedom ◽

Public Health Response ◽

Health Response ◽

The Law

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Using Convergent Sequential Design for Rapid Complex Case Study Descriptions: Example of Public Health Briefings During the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic

10.1101/2020.11.11.20229393 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Cheryl N. Poth ◽

Okan Bulut ◽

Alexandra M. Aquilina ◽

Simon J. G. Otto

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Mixed Methods ◽

Complex Adaptive System ◽

Large Data ◽

Complex Case ◽

Public Health Response ◽

Health Response ◽

Complex Adaptive ◽

Complex Phenomena

AbstractConceptualizing the public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic response as a complex adaptive system is useful to study its key features of emergence, interdependency, and adaptation yet practical guidance for mixed methods researchers remains limited. This study contributes an illustrative example and discussion for guiding how a mixed methods convergent sequential research design, informed by complexity theory and drawing upon open-access datasets, can rapidly generate complex case study descriptions. This article serves as an essential reference for identifying points of integration within a sequential convergent design using text mining to manage large data volumes and studying complex phenomena using a complexity-informed case study-mixed methods approach to generate novel public health insights.

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Global Telemedicine Implementation and Integration Within Health Systems to Fight the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Call to Action

JMIR Public Health and Surveillance ◽

10.2196/18810 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 6 (2) ◽

pp. e18810 ◽

Cited By ~ 202

Author(s):

Robin Ohannessian ◽

Tu Anh Duong ◽

Anna Odone

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

National Health ◽

Large Scale ◽

The United States ◽

Response Strategy ◽

World Health ◽

Public Health Response ◽

Levels Of Care ◽

Health Response ◽

Health Organization

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak as a pandemic, with over 720,000 cases reported in more than 203 countries as of 31 March. The response strategy included early diagnosis, patient isolation, symptomatic monitoring of contacts as well as suspected and confirmed cases, and public health quarantine. In this context, telemedicine, particularly video consultations, has been promoted and scaled up to reduce the risk of transmission, especially in the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Based on a literature review, the first conceptual framework for telemedicine implementation during outbreaks was published in 2015. An updated framework for telemedicine in the COVID-19 pandemic has been defined. This framework could be applied at a large scale to improve the national public health response. Most countries, however, lack a regulatory framework to authorize, integrate, and reimburse telemedicine services, including in emergency and outbreak situations. In this context, Italy does not include telemedicine in the essential levels of care granted to all citizens within the National Health Service, while France authorized, reimbursed, and actively promoted the use of telemedicine. Several challenges remain for the global use and integration of telemedicine into the public health response to COVID-19 and future outbreaks. All stakeholders are encouraged to address the challenges and collaborate to promote the safe and evidence-based use of telemedicine during the current pandemic and future outbreaks. For countries without integrated telemedicine in their national health care system, the COVID-19 pandemic is a call to adopt the necessary regulatory frameworks for supporting wide adoption of telemedicine.

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