Public Health Practices

The San Francisco Bay Area Advanced Practice Center created a toolkit that adapted the city’s Infectious Disease Emergency Response plan for other local health departments. The toolkit supplies guidance and a variety of templates to help integrate Incident Command System roles into local agencies and encourage greater collaboration between disease control and emergency management divisions.

Due to growing concern over the specific needs of children during an emergency, public health agencies and hospitals are seeking to enhance clinical readiness for all hospitals that may see children during a mass casualty event. In response to this issue, the King County Healthcare Coalition developed a pediatric medical management toolkit and evacuation plan for regional hospitals.

Community and retail pharmacists possess significant skills that can be useful during an emergency response, including vast knowledge about pharmaceutical effects and interactions and the ability to clinically assess illness. Pharmacy involvement in emergency preparedness and response varies between jurisdictions due to differences in state statutes that define how far a pharmacist's clinical reach can extend.

Building new partnerships, including with large retail chains, helped Texas dramatically expand its options for distributing antiviral medications during the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic.

New York City's mass fatality guidance comprises two parts: (1) a training course for health professionals who will be involved in fatality management, and (2) a planning tool. The course describes strategies, roles, and responsibilities that will be assumed by the Office of Chief Medical Examiner and health care facilities.

The Montgomery County Advanced Practice Center developed a toolkit to assist health departments in conducting a pandemic influenza preparedness workshop for home care providers. While much of the toolkit focuses on continuity-of-operations planning for home care agencies, it also provides home care agencies with materials to enhance personal preparedness and knowledge about pandemic flu scenarios among their clients.

The California Department of Public Health has outlined a process for dealing with the complex issues of clinical care surge capacity during a public health emergency. The tools could serve as an educational model for other states that are attempting to address this challenging topic.