Dentists: Critical aspects of their own and their community's disaster preparedness plan.

The weather-related disasters in 2017 in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, the 2017-2018 wildfire seasons in California and Hurricanes Florence and Michael in 2018 have challenged all healthcare professionals, to have plans in place to protect their facility, patients, and staff from all possible hazards. These were "slowly developing" events, with enormous media coverage, and yet the results were still horrific. The need to have both a good evacuation plan and a good shelter-in-place plan has previously been dramatically demonstrated.

Podiatric medicine and disaster response: a survey of the professional leadership.

Background: We surveyed the podiatric medicine professional and academic leadership concerning podiatric medicine professionals as disaster surge responders.

Methods: All US podiatric medical school deans and state society presidents were mailed a self-administered structured questionnaire. The leaders were asked to complete the questionnaire and return it by mail; two repeated mailings were made.

A survey of optometry leadership: participation in disaster response.

Background: A study was completed to assess the academic and state-level professional optometry leadership views regarding optometry professionals as surge responders in the event of a catastrophic event.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted using a 21-question, self-administered, structured questionnaire. All U.

Bioterrorism update--information for the dentist.

The United States was awakened to the perils of bioterrorism in October 2001 with the news that letters laced with anthrax had been mailed to the media and select politicians. At that time, it became evident that a widescale attack using a bioweapon of mass destruction could rapidly overwhelm the health care system. Dentists could make a tremendous contribution to the response of such an attack by gaining an understanding of the bioweapons that could be used, as well as the symptoms of their diseases and therapies for treatment.

National emergency response programs for dental health care professionals.

Background: Members of the established public health systems and medical community must understand that, in medical surge events, members of the dental profession and other non-traditional disaster health care personnel are an additional source of assistance in response activities.

Methods: The authors relied on hands-on experience, expert consultations, literature reviews and Web searches to identify disaster response training programs appropriate for members of the dental profession and other health care personnel.

Results: The authors identified multiple governmental and professional disaster training programs.

A unique role for dental school faculty: telephone triage training and integration into a health departments' emergency response planning.

Objective: Dental professionals with proper training and integration into existing protocols for mobilization can be one additional resource during catastrophic events. A pilot project on training of dental school faculty in telephone triage in the event of an avian flu pandemic is described. A partnership was established with a grant from the Department of Justice/Department of Homeland Security, between the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and New York University to initiate a pilot program to increase the manpower resources available to the health agency should an overwhelming public health event be present in the New York City area.

All hazards training: incorporating a catastrophe preparedness mindset into the dental school curriculum and professional practice.

Catastrophic preparedness should be incorporated into the dental school curriculum. The experience at New York University College of Dentistry is that a combination of catastrophic preparedness elements integrated within existing courses with a short, meaningful capstone course dedicated to all hazards preparedness can be accomplished successfully and meet proposed competencies for training in the dental curriculum. The roles and responsibilities in catastrophic response preparedness and response of dentists are actively being discussed by the dental profession.

The Medical Reserve Corps. an opportunity for dentists to serve.

The response to the events of Sept. 11, 2001, relied on local resources and personnel. Aware of how important their contribution could be, many people are now inspired to volunteer during times of crisis.

Introducing a senior course on catastrophe preparedness into the dental school curriculum.

This article describes an integrated fourth-year course in catastrophe preparedness for students at the New York University College of Dentistry (NYUCD). The curriculum is built around the competencies proposed in "Predoctoral Dental School Curriculum for Catastrophe Preparedness," published in the August 2004 Journal of Dental Education. We highlight our experience developing the program and offer suggestions to other dental schools considering adding bioterrorism studies to their curriculum.

Emergency preparedness in the dental office.

Background: Terrorist activities now can be added to the list of possible man-made and nature-induced health and safety disasters that can affect a community. There are two basic responses that people can choose to protect themselves during these events. One is to evacuate the area, the other is to shelter in place.

Preparing for a terrorist event: a scenario-driven approach.

Since September 11, 2001, government agencies on all levels have focused on planning and preparing to respond to another possible terrorist attack. In addition to emergency and medical issues, these agencies must be concerned about the public's behavior and psychological response when they plan the management of a bioterrorist event. We present readers with one such possible incident, a radiological bomb scenario, with the aim of educating dentists and communicating the risks involved.

Predoctoral dental school curriculum for catastrophe preparedness.

Preparing for catastrophic events, both human-made and natural, is in the national interest and has become a priority since catastrophic events in Oklahoma City, Washington, DC, and New York City. Dentists are a large source of non-physician health manpower that could contribute to the public welfare during catastrophic events that require additional public health human resources. Dentists, by virtue of their education, understand biomedical concepts and have patient care skills that can be directly applied during a catastrophic event.