Twenty-first century emergency response efforts of the Commissioned Corps of the US Public Health Service

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 311
Author(s):  
Jeffery L. Sumter, DrPH ◽  
Adrienne Goodrich-Doctor, PhD ◽  
Jill Roberts, PhD ◽  
Thomas J. Mason, PhD
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Service ◽  
Public Health Service ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Emerging Diseases ◽  
First Century ◽  
Surgeon General ◽  
The Us ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
The Impact

The impact of the Commissioned Corps of the US Public Health Service (Commissioned Corps) on the health and safety of the nation spans more than two centuries. The public health efforts of the highly qualified health professionals of this often-underreported uniformed service include fighting threats like the great flu pandemic of 1918, the anthrax attacks, Ebola, and natural disasters such as Hurricanes Maria, Irma, and Katrina. As we near the first quarter of the twenty-first century, it is important to take a snapshot of the critical contributions and response efforts the Commissioned Corps has made in the first 18 years of the twenty-first century. Today, the Commissioned Corps faces new challenges in the form of emerging diseases and a rapidly growing opioid epidemic, but under the guidance of the US Surgeon General, it remains vigilant and fully capable of minimizing any public health threat it encounters.

NATION'S DOCTOR—SURGEON GENERAL

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 93 (4) ◽  
pp. 655-655
Author(s):  
J. F. L.
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Service ◽  
Public Health Service ◽  
Mass Education ◽  
White House ◽  
Surgeon General ◽  
Aids Crisis

The office of Surgeon General has off and on been slated for termination. But that was before Ronald Reagan's Surgeon General, the patriarchal, independent-minded C. Everett Koop, emerged from obscurity to become the telegenic evangelist of the AIDS crisis. Tolerated by the Reagan White House as a bargain-priced diversion from its own lassitude on AIDS, Koop demonstrated how the office could be used for mass education by a public health champion with a rhetorical flair. In TV parlance, the Surgeon General became the "nation's doctor." Koop's visibility was enhanced when he exercised the long-neglected right of Public Health Service officers to deck themselves out in navy-cut gold-braided uniforms.

Neuroradiological Assessment of Referrals for MR Brain Scan: Our Experience

2005 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-15
Author(s):  
M. Leonardi ◽  
M. Maffei ◽  
S. Battaglia ◽  
C. Barbara ◽  
P. Cenni ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Service ◽  
Public Health Service ◽  
Waiting Lists ◽  
Ct Scans ◽  
Radiological Assessment ◽  
Appropriateness Criteria ◽  
Experimental Project ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Mr Scanning

The growing demand for brain MR scans in recent years has led to long waiting lists and indiscriminate referral with respect to the clinical need for imaging and appropriateness criteria for MR scanning. To overcome this problem, the Bologna Public Health Service in conjunction with S. Orsola-Malpighi Hospital devised an experimental project instituting a radiological assessment prior to booking MR scans, implemented on 1st November 2003. The assessment is carried out by doctors in the Radiology and neuroradiology units to establish whether referral for MR scan is appropriate and to draw up a priority scale for access to MR diagnosis. If MR investigation is deemed inappropriate, the project provides for an alternative procedure or specialist clinical examination. The patient is admitted to the charge of the service and followed throughout the diagnostic work-up, i.e. the doctor undertaking the assessment will prescribe a possible specialist clinical consultation or other radiological procedures, generally CT scans performed by the same Radiology or Neuroradiology unit. We report on neuroradiological assessment of referrals for brain MR scans on behalf of the Public Health Service and carried out at the Neuroradiology Unit in Bellaria Hospital, Bologna. From 1st November to 31st July 2004, 2659 assessments were undertaken. Of these 2163 were approved for MR scanning whereas 496 referrals were modified, mostly into CT scans and some patients were referred for otorhinolaringology, endocrinology or neurology specialist consultation. To assess the impact of this “filter”, we compared a sample period of six months from 1st February 2003 to 31st July 2003 before the radiological assessment project had been implemented with a period of the same length the following year. We found that the number of negative MR scans was halved after the project had been implemented (from 24.49% in 2003 to 12.18% in 2004), showing that in addition to shortening waiting lists for MR scans, there has been a sharp rise in the number of appropriate scans.

MEDICAL ASPECTS OF CHILDHOOD LEAD POISONING

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1971 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 464-468
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Service ◽  
Lead Poisoning ◽  
Public Health Service ◽  
Policy Statement ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Surgeon General ◽  
Screening Programs ◽  
Lead Hazards ◽  
The U.S

Jesse L. Steinfeld, M.D., Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service has approved the following policy statement and has designated the Bureau of Community Environmental Management as the activity within the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare to assist in the development and implementation of programs for the control of lead poisoning in children. The U.S. Public Health Service recommends that screening programs for the prevention and treatment of lead poisoning (plumbism) in children include all those who are 1 to 6 years of age and living in old, poorly maintained houses. Children exposed to other special local conditions involving lead hazards also should be screened. Lead-based paint was commonly used for interior purposes until the 1940's when it was largely replaced by titanium-based paint; therefore, children living in dilapidated or obviously deteriorating houses built prior to that time are to be given particular attention. Children who frequently visit such neighborhoods–homes of baby sitters, relatives, and playmates–also should be included in screening programs.1 Today lead-based paint is still used to some extent for the exteriors of dwellings, and this potential source of exposure to lead should not be overlooked. Children at risk should be screened periodically during the years 1 to 6, and longer if indicated. The prime goal of screening programs is the prevention of lead poisoning. The prevention of plumbism can be achieved through the early detection of children with undue absorption of lead, followed immediately by remedial action before the state of overt poisoning is reached. Consequently, screening programs should not be limited to the detection and treatment of children with lead poisoning.

Predicting Measles Susceptibility

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1984 ◽  
Vol 73 (6) ◽  
pp. 871-873
Author(s):  
LORING G. DALES ◽  
JAMES CHIN
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Service ◽  
Advisory Committee ◽  
Virus Vaccine ◽  
Measles Virus ◽  
Public Health Service ◽  
Measles Vaccine ◽  
Measles Outbreak ◽  
The Us ◽  
History Of

Elsewhere in this issue, Scott et al1 present results of their study which found that the historical criteria developed by the US Public Health Service Immunization Practices Advisory Committee (ACIP) for detecting students who were susceptible to measles performed very poorly in a school measles outbreak. The ACIP criteria designate as susceptible persons born since 1956 who have no documentation of immunization, who have no physician-Venified history of measles infection, who last received measles vaccine before their first birthday, or who were last immunized (at age 12 months or older) before 1968 with measles virus vaccine that could have been either live or inactivated.

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