SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “Preparedness”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 271 records · Page 15Linked to original sources

PubMedDate not supplied

Biological, chemical, and nuclear terrorism readiness: major concerns and preparedness of future nurses.

INTRODUCTION: The nursing profession is developing educational resources to improve their response to victims of nuclear, biological, and chemical terrorism. Future nurses may differ from practicing nurses in their perspective of what is critical information. The purpose of this study was to identify student nurses' major concerns in relation to working with victims of terrorism. METHOD: A descriptive study was used to identify how future nurses might practice as caregivers for victims of terrorism. The study population consisted of a convenience sample of 95 junior and senior baccalaureate nursing students at a mid-south state university. The students were given an anonymous questionnaire regarding their concerns and how their lives had changed after September 11, 2001. The questionnaire consisted of 19 major items that identified demographics and perceptions and concerns regarding preparedness, willingness to work, expectation of future terrorism events, effect on lifestyle, and other fears related to terrorism or caring for victims of terrorism. A Cronbach alpha coefficient of reliability on standardized items was .745. RESULTS: Students' primary concern was for the safety of themselves and their families. They were primarily concerned about having adequate protection for all types of terrorist agents and indicated they would not be willing to care for victims if there was a lack of protection for both themselves and family. Although the nursing school faculty had provided self-education information about terrorism, students did not demonstrate an accurate understanding of the pathogenic nature of many agents.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Vaccinia immune globulin: current policies, preparedness, and product safety and efficacy.

In 1980 the World Health Organization declared that smallpox was eradicated from the world, and routine smallpox vaccination was discontinued. Nevertheless, samples of the smallpox virus (variola virus) were retained for research purposes, not least because of fears that terrorist groups or rogue states might also have kept samples in order to develop a bioweapon. Variola virus represents an effective bioweapon because it is associated with high morbidity and mortality and is highly contagious. Since September 11, 2001, countries around the world have begun to develop policies and preparedness programs to deal with a bioterror attack, including stockpiling of smallpox vaccine. Smallpox vaccine itself may be associated with a number of serious adverse events, which can often be managed with vaccinia immune globulin (VIG). VIG may also be needed as prophylaxis in patients for whom pre-exposure smallpox vaccine is contraindicated (such as those with eczema or pregnant women), although it is currently not licensed in these cases. Two intravenous formulations of VIG (VIGIV Cangene and VIGIV Dynport) have been licensed by the FDA for the management of patients with progressive vaccinia, eczema vaccinatum, severe generalized vaccinia, and extensive body surface involvement or periocular implantation following inadvertent inoculation.

Bioterrorism↗

PubMed2005

Preparedness of households and catering establishments for incidents involving radioactive contamination.

This short paper describes a number of investigations carried out to ensure preparedness for crises involving radioactivity to catering operations and private households in Finland. The specific recommendations for catering kitchens during crises were published in 1994. A study to determine the level of adherence to these recommendations is summarised here, together with its findings and subsequent recommendations. Another study on the pre-planning of crisis menus is described. New challenges for the catering kitchens are touched upon. A crisis food preparation booklet for households is described and based on consumers' attitudes suggestions are made for how this can be improved in the future.

Cities↗

PubMed2005

Urban meteorological modelling for nuclear emergency preparedness.

The main objectives of the current EU project "Integrated Systems for Forecasting Urban Meteorology, Air Pollution and Population Exposure" (FUMAPEX) are the improvement of meteorological forecasts for urban areas, the connection of numerical weather prediction (NWP) models to urban air pollution and population dose models, the building of improved urban air quality information and forecasting systems, and their application in cities in various European climates. In addition to the forecast of the worst air-pollution episodes in large cities, the potential use of improved weather forecasts for nuclear emergency management in urban areas, in case of hazardous releases from nuclear accidents or terror acts, is considered. Such use of NWP data is tested for the Copenhagen metropolitan area and the Øresund region. The Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI) is running an experimental version of the HIRLAM NWP model over Zealand including the Copenhagen metropolitan area with a horizontal resolution of 1.4km, thus approaching the city-scale. This involves 1-km resolution physiographic data with implications for the urban surface parameters, e.g. surface fluxes, roughness length and albedo. For the city of Copenhagen, the enhanced high-resolution NWP forecasting will be provided to demonstrate the improved dispersion forecasting capabilities of the Danish nuclear emergency preparedness decision-support system, the Accident Reporting and Guidance Operational System (ARGOS), used by the Danish Emergency Management Agency (DEMA). Recently, ARGOS has been extended with a capability of real-time calculation of regional-scale atmospheric dispersion of radioactive material from accidental releases. This is effectuated through on-line interfacing with the Danish Emergency Response Model of the Atmosphere (DERMA), which is run at DMI. For local-scale modelling of atmospheric dispersion, ARGOS utilises the Local-Scale Model Chain (LSMC), which makes use of high-resolution DMI-HIRLAM NWP model data provided to DEMA by DMI four times a day under operational surveillance and covering Denmark and surroundings. The integration of DERMA in ARGOS is effectuated through automated on-line digital communication and exchange of data. The calculations are carried out in parallel for each NWP model to which DMI has access, thereby providing a mini-ensemble of dispersion forecasts for the emergency management.

Air Pollutants, Radioactive↗

PubMed2004

Emergency preparedness and response: compensating victims of a nuclear accident.

The 1986 tragedy at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine motivated the entire international nuclear community to ensure that countries would, in the future, be well prepared to manage the physical, psychological and financial consequences of a serious nuclear accident. Since that event, numerous nuclear emergency preparedness and post-emergency management programmes have been established at national and international levels to ensure that appropriate mechanisms will respond to the threat, and the aftermath, of a nuclear accident. The INEX 2000 Workshop on the Indemnification of Nuclear Damage, jointly organised by the OECD/Nuclear Energy Agency and the French Government, was the first ever international programme to address the manner in which victims of a nuclear accident with trans-boundary consequences would be compensated for damage suffered before, during and after the accident. The Workshop results revealed striking differences in the compensation principles and practices implemented in the 30 participating countries, in the co-ordination measures between different public authorities within an affected state, and in the co-operative procedures between the accident state and its neighbours. All participants agreed on the need for improvement in these areas, particularly for maintaining public confidence in governments' ability to properly manage nuclear emergencies.

Compensation and Redress↗

PubMed2004

Drivers of accident preparedness and safety: evidence from the RMP Rule.

This paper provides an overview of recent results derived from the accident history data collected under 112(r) of the Clean Air Act Amendments (the Risk Management Program (RMP) Rule) covering the period 1994-2000, together with a preliminary assessment of the effectiveness of the RMP Rule as a form of Management System Regulation. These were undertaken at the University of Pennsylvania by a multi-disciplinary team of economists, statisticians and epidemiologists with the support of the US Environmental Protection Agency and its Office of Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response (OEPPR, formerly CEPPO). Section 112(r) of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 requires that chemical facilities in the US that had on premises more than specified quantities of toxic or flammable chemicals file a 5-year history of accidents. The initial data reported under the RMP Rule covered roughly the period from mid-1994 through mid-2000, and provided details on economic, environmental and acute health affects resulting from accidents at some 15,000 US chemical facilities for this period. This paper reviews research based on this data. The research is in the form of a retrospective cohort study that considers the statistical associations between accident frequency and accident severity at covered facilities (the outcome variables of interest) and a number of facility characteristics (the available predictor variables provided by the RMP Rule), the latter including such facility characteristics as size, hazardousness, financial characteristics of parent company-owners of the facility, regulatory programs in force at the facility, and host community characteristics for the surrounding county in which the facility was located, as captured in the 1990 Census. Among the findings reviewed are: (1) positive associations with (a measure of) facility hazardousness and accident, injury and economic costs of accidents; (2) positive (resp., negative) associations between accident propensity and debt-equity ratios (resp., sales) of parent companies; (3) several interrelated associations between accident propensity and regulatory programs in force; and (4) strong associations between facility hazardousness, facility locations decisions, observed accident frequencies and community demographics.

Air Pollutants↗

PubMed2005

Bioterrorism, stress, and pain: the importance of an anticipatory community preparedness intervention.

This article reviews the accumulating scientific evidence demonstrating the negative impact caused by a cataclysmic event, such as bioterrorism, on the mental health of a community. Moreover, the potential mental health problems created by the continuing threat of possible future events are discussed. This close link among disaster events, stress, pain, and psychopathology is presented from a biopsychosocial perspective. Although there are now efforts being systematically developed to prepare for possible future biological or chemical terrorism events, there is currently also a critical need for early mental health intervention in response to future attacks to decrease psychiatric sequelae, especially workforce illness and morbidity. In this article, examples of such emergency bioterrorism preparedness, incorporating a major focus on mental health issues, are reviewed. Although these are now recognized needs, there is still not a concerted effort to prepare the population for the mental health sequelae that would be produced by such events.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2026

Integrated molecular, epidemiological, and bioinformatics perspectives on the Mpox virus: Implications for surveillance and Global Health preparedness.

Mpox has re-emerged as a significant global zoonotic threat, driven mainly by two large waves the 2022 worldwide Clade IIb outbreak and the 2024 Clade Ib epidemic in Central Africa. This review examines the challenges of interpreting this evolving virus from molecular, epidemiological, and bioinformatics perspectives, with a focus on global health workforce preparedness. Clade IIb largely moved through sexual transmission across countries, but Clade Ib has appeared in a wider population-women, children, and individuals infected through household spread without any sexual contact. Early case series suggest that Clade Ib may cause a more severe disease burden, but more research is needed to directly compare severity and fatality rates with Clade IIb due to the limited number of current studies. The review examines the virus's strategies for evading the host's immune defenses throughout its ∼197 kbp genome, including how it disrupts interferon signaling and creates decoy receptors. This review summarizes the clinical findings of PALM007 and STOMP, noting that neither trial achieved its main efficacy endpoint making routine tecovirimat use less compelling-while leaving open whether it helps particular high-risk groups. A further point is that immunity from the MVA-BN vaccine wanes with time, leading to the growing adoption of booster vaccinations. In conclusion, the review calls for a One Health approach pairing genomic tracking with ecological intelligence and including wastewater surveillance to fill existing gaps in knowledge and enhance the global handling of new orthopoxvirus threats.

Animals↗

PubMed2004

The impact of clinical placement location on nursing students' competence and preparedness for practice.

The challenges confronting nurses in today's health care environments have highlighted the necessity for graduating students to feel both competent and prepared for practice. The aim of the aspect of the study reported in this article was to determine the relationship between the location of clinical placements and competence and preparedness for practice from the perspective of the nursing students. A quasi-experimental design using a pre-test post-test survey was used. The population consisted of all final year Bachelor of Nursing students at Queensland University of Technology, who undertook their clinical placement in either a rural or metropolitan location. The response rate was 65% in the pretest (n = 137) and 57% in the posttest (n =121). The results of the study highlight the importance of both rural and metropolitan clinical environments in developing not only student competency but also students' satisfaction with their clinical experience. The results suggest that the selection of a rural placement is more likely to occur when students feel competent, confident and organised about their clinical experience. Strategies to increase students' perceptions of competence and confidence to undertake a rural placement are likely to increase students' selection to 'go rural'.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Intimate partner violence: forms, consequences and preparedness to act as perceived by healthcare staff and district and community leaders in a rural district in northern Vietnam.

OBJECTIVES: A qualitative study was conducted among healthcare staff and district and community leaders in May and June 2002 to describe their perceptions of violence occurring between intimate partners. It focused on male violence towards females, and its forms, consequences and preparedness to act in a rural setting in Vietnam. METHODS: Twenty men and 20 women were strategically selected for focus group discussions and a phenomenographic approach was employed. FINDINGS: Violence was described not only as physical but also, primarily, as affecting women's mental health status. Mental violence was exemplified as verbally offending, ignoring or humiliating a woman. Sexual abuse was mentioned less frequently. IPV was considered to be a private matter, occurring in the home away from relatives, neighbours and the local community. Only very serious cases would seek health care. Divorce and deteriorating family finances were reported as serious consequences, not least for the children. Local reconciliation groups, comprised of trusted community members, played a role in mediating, while health professionals were found to be uninformed about prevalence rates and reluctant to intervene. CONCLUSIONS: Gender-based violence needs to receive attention from policy makers, and effective advocacy programmes are needed at all levels. In Vietnam, partner violence against women seems to be recognized at Government level. At community level, Women's Union staff and local reconciliation groups are prepared to act. However, the subject is surrounded by silence. We found that healthcare workers exhibited a lack of understanding of violence against women as a health problem in their own working environment.

Attitude↗

PubMed2004

Fire in the OR--prevention and preparedness.

Fires in the OR can be devastating to patients, surgical team members, facilities, and communities. Every OR contains the ingredients necessary to start a fire. Education is the key to fire prevention and preparedness. Perioperative staff members can be taught how to prevent the components of the fire triad from converging to start a fire and how to handle a fire if one occurs. A scenario is described to illustrate how a fire plan and fire drill were implemented in one facility. Steps in planning a fire drill and valuable evaluation forms also are presented.

Disaster Planning↗

PubMed2000

Forecasting disease risk for increased epidemic preparedness in public health.

Emerging infectious diseases pose a growing threat to human populations. Many of the world's epidemic diseases (particularly those transmitted by intermediate hosts) are known to be highly sensitive to long-term changes in climate and short-term fluctuations in the weather. The application of environmental data to the study of disease offers the capability to demonstrate vector-environment relationships and potentially forecast the risk of disease outbreaks or epidemics. Accurate disease forecasting models would markedly improve epidemic prevention and control capabilities. This chapter examines the potential for epidemic forecasting and discusses the issues associated with the development of global networks for surveillance and prediction. Existing global systems for epidemic preparedness focus on disease surveillance using either expert knowledge or statistical modelling of disease activity and thresholds to identify times and areas of risk. Predictive health information systems would use monitored environmental variables, linked to a disease system, to be observed and provide prior information of outbreaks. The components and varieties of forecasting systems are discussed with selected examples, along with issues relating to further development.

Communicable Diseases↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Surgical careers and preparedness of graduating residents--an outcomes-based study.

PURPOSE: Outcome-based measures have recently become the focus of residency program evaluations. The ultimate outcome of a surgical training program is the successful development of surgical careers by its graduates. METHODS: We developed a survey that was sent to all residents completing our surgical residency from 1989 to 1999 in order to evaluate practice location, type of practice, practice mixture, additional training obtained after residency, Board certification, and membership in the American College (ACS) or other professional societies. Graduates were asked to report their impression of their residency education program's ability to prepare them for surgical practice as well as to give an overall opinion of their training using a scale of 10 (high) to 1 (low). Solicitations were also made for means to improve the training program. RESULTS: Of 32 graduates sent surveys, 30 responded (94%). A total of 29 of 30 responding graduates (97%) are active in surgery. A total of 26 of 30 graduates are in private or government practice, 3 of 30 are full-time academic, and 1 of 30 is completing fellowship training. A total of 13 of 30 (43%) immediately entered practice, whereas 17 of 30 (57%) received additional fellowship training. Board certification has been achieved by 24 graduates. A total of 17 of 30 (59%) are members of the ACS, and 24 of 30 (83%) are members of at least 1 regional or specialty society. The average score for practice preparedness was 8.35. Overall score for the residency program was 8.7. Specific graduate comments demonstrated a perceived need for additional vascular and oncology operative experience that led to changes in our program. These results demonstrate an overall high satisfaction with our training program by graduates over the past 10 years as well as high success rate as evidenced by successful surgical practices by 97% of our graduates. CONCLUSIONS: We believe this type of outcome information provides valuable feedback to programs with regard to planning and development based on the types of careers graduates choose as well as specific changes in curriculum based on perceived deficiencies.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1998

Medical preparedness for a terrorist incident involving chemical or biological agents during the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.

During the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, unprecedented preparations were undertaken to cope with the health consequences of a terrorist incident involving chemical or biological agents. Local, state, federal, and military resources joined to establish a specialized incident assessment team and science and technology center. Critical antimicrobials and antidotes were strategically stockpiled. First-responders received specialized training, and local acute care capabilities were supplemented. Surveillance systems were augmented and strengthened. However, this extensive undertaking revealed a number of critical issues that must be resolved if our nation is to successfully cope with an attack of this nature. Emergency preparedness in this complex arena must be based on carefully conceived priorities. Improved capabilities must be developed to rapidly recognize an incident and characterize the agents involved, as well as to provide emergency decontamination and medical care. Finally, capabilities must be developed to rapidly implement emergency public health interventions and adequately protect emergency responders.

Anti-Infective Agents↗

PubMed2002

Bioterrorism preparedness. III: State and federal programs and response.

Management of a bioterrorism event will begin with early detection and intervention at the local level. Any large-scale event will require rapid state and federal assistance. Federal initiatives targeting bioterrorism have increasingly become a complex web of executive and legislative actions, frequently initiated in reaction to specific events, and often unrelated to this threat. Multiple executive and legislative branch actions have resulted in a proliferation of federal programs, and coordination of these efforts remains a significant challenge. Still, great strides have been taken to improve our defensive posture against this emerging threat, and, at all levels, governmental authorities and agencies are much better prepared to respond to such events than they were a decade ago. The events of September 11, 2001 and subsequent events are clear indicators that the timeline for preparedness has been significantly compressed. Federal emergency operations, historically designed more for recovery than response, seemed up to the task in the wake of the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, although there was criticism of federal responsiveness to the subsequent anthrax incidents [71,72], and the timeliness of federal resources in the event of a large-scale outbreak resulting from a bioterrorism attack has yet to be truly tested. The recent establishment of the Office of Homeland Security and the Homeland Security Council holds promise that some of these inefficiencies may be rectified and overall coordination of programs will improve. Continued improvements in the effectiveness of the federal government in meeting the challenges of this and other emerging threats to homeland security will require: Establishment of consensus standards, metrics, and measures of effectiveness for all aspects of disaster, epidemic, and terrorism management at the local, regional, state, and federal levels Delineation of expected, quantifiable state and local capabilities to mitigate, prepare, respond, and recover from all disasters, including those caused by terrorist actions Development of predefined or clear and rapidly discernible criteria for deployment of state and federal emergency resources Full accountability of program costs and expenditures Continued consolidation or coordination of the many overlapping and at times redundant federal programs.

Bioterrorism↗

PubMed2001

HIV/AIDS preparedness in mental health care agencies with high and low substance use disorder caseloads.

PURPOSE: The Columbia University HIV Mental Health Training Project, created to improve the mental health workforce's AIDS preparedness in New York and neighboring states, sought to compare the perceived HIV-related needs and capacities of mental health care providers in settings where clients with substance use disorders predominated versus those where clients with substance use disorders were the minority of the agencies' caseload. METHODS: The first consecutive 67 mental health care agencies that requested HIV/AIDS training between March 2000 and January 2001 completed a written needs assessment describing their HIV-related services and training needs. RESULTS: Agencies with higher substance abuse caseloads were significantly more likely than others to have large HIV/AIDS caseloads, to be currently providing condoms to clients, and to rate staff comfort with sexual identity issues as well as drug-related issues as good. Overall, agencies that had received previous training in specific topic areas (e.g., HIV risk assessment) were significantly more likely than others to provide those services. Even so, in all settings, significant gaps in service provision were found. IMPLICATIONS: Two decades into the AIDS epidemic, mental health care agencies, especially those treating smaller caseloads of patients with substance use disorders, may not be providing sufficient services to meet their clients' HIV-related needs.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Disaster preparedness in Virginia Hospital Center-Arlington after Sept 11, 2001.

True disaster readiness and preparedness are not really measured until put to the test of a real disaster. The attacks of Sept 11, 2001, put 1 community hospital and its disaster plan to the ultimate test. The process the hospital used to review, evaluate, and change its former disaster plan and then implement a new plan on the basis of the response to Sept 11 terrorists attacks is described. Specific challenges faced by this community hospital, the importance of participation in a regional response effort, and how the hospital has readied itself in a new threat environment are addressed. Disasters affect hospitals of all sizes and geographic locations. Health care facilities need a strong framework with which to function independently, if only for a short time, until additional resources can be implemented.

Aircraft↗

PubMedDate not supplied

In the path of disasters: psychosocial issues for preparedness, response, and recovery.

The psychosocial impacts of disasters are profound. In recent years, there have been too many reminders of these impacts and the dire needs of the people involved. The purpose of this article is to present the following themes from the psychosocial literature on disasters and emergency management: (1) differential impacts of disasters according to gender and age; (2) prevention efforts to reduce racial discrimination, rape, and other forms of abuse; (3) readiness for cultural change toward prevention and preparedness; and (4) the need to involve aid beneficiaries as active partners in relief strategies, particularly during reconstruction of communities and critical systems. Psychosocial needs change throughout the disaster cycle, particularly as social support deteriorates over time. It is important to anticipate what psychosocial needs of the public, emergency responders, support staff, and volunteers might emerge, before advancing to the next stage of the disaster. Particular consideration needs to be directed toward differential impacts of disasters based on gender, age, and other vulnerabilities.

Disaster Planning↗