Ranking the Attributes of Effective Disaster Responders and Leaders.

Objective: To investigate the relative importance of 10 attributes identified in prior studies as essential for effective disaster medical responders and leaders.

Methods: Emergency and disaster medical response personnel (N=220) ranked 10 categories of disaster worker attributes in order of their importance in contributing to the effectiveness of disaster responders and leaders.

Results: Attributes of disaster medical leaders and responders were rank ordered, and the rankings differed for leaders and responders.

Dallas MegaShelter Medical Operations Response to Hurricane Harvey.

On August 25, 2017, Hurricane Harvey made landfall near Corpus Christi, Texas. The ensuing unprecedented flooding throughout the Texas coastal region affected millions of individuals.1 The statewide response in Texas included the sheltering of thousands of individuals at considerable distances from their homes.

Readiness for Radiological and Nuclear Events among Emergency Medical Personnel.

Background: Among medical providers, even though radiological and nuclear events are recognized as credible threats, there is a lack of knowledge and fear about the medical consequences among medical personnel which could significantly affect the treatment of patients injured and/or contaminated in such scenarios. This study was conducted to evaluate the relative knowledge, willingness to respond, and familiarity with nuclear/radiological contamination risks among U.S.

Qualitative Analysis of Surveyed Emergency Responders and the Identified Factors That Affect First Stage of Primary Triage Decision-Making of Mass Casualty Incidents.

Introduction: After all large-scale disasters multiple papers are published describing the shortcomings of the triage methods utilized. This paper uses medical provider input to help describe attributes and patient characteristics that impact triage decisions.

Methods: A survey distributed electronically to medical providers with and without disaster experience.

Clinical Update on Dengue, Chikungunya, and Zika: What We Know at the Time of Article Submission.

Objective: Mosquito-borne diseases pose a threat to individual health and population health on both a local and a global level. The threat is even more exaggerated during disasters, whether manmade or environmental. With the recent Zika virus outbreak, it is important to highlight other infections that can mimic the Zika virus and to better understand what can be done as public health officials and health care providers.

Traumatic cardiac arrests--the action or the provider, what makes the difference?

Traumatic cardiac arrest resuscitation is considered a heroic and futile endeavor. However, newer articles have more promising statistics and divide between prehospital ground and helicopter transport. Here we discuss why there might be a difference in the survivability of this subset of trauma patients.

Attributes of effective disaster responders: focus group discussions with key emergency response leaders.

Methods: An effective disaster response requires competent responders and leaders. The purpose of this study was to ask experts to identify attributes that distinguish effective from ineffective responders and leaders in a disaster. In this qualitative study, focus groups were held with jurisdictional medical directors for the 9-1-1 emergency medical services systems of the majority of the nation's largest cities.

H1N1: communication patterns among emergency department staff during the H1N1 outbreak, April 2009.

Introduction: The H1N1 influenza virus has been described by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the media as a disease that could rival the 1918 Spanish Influenza epidemic in deaths. During the spring of 2009, emergency departments across the world saw a spike in the number of influenza cases and by June 2009, the WHO had declared H1N1 a pandemic. In order to prevent emergency department staff from becoming ill and to provide up-to-date medical care to patients, information had to be disseminated quickly to emergency department staff.

Evolving need for alternative triage management in public health emergencies: a Hurricane Katrina case study.

In many countries, traditional medical planning for disasters developed largely in response to battlefield and multiple casualty incidents, generally involving corporal injuries. The mass evacuation of a metropolitan population in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina evolved into life-and-death triage scenarios involving thousands of patients with nontraumatic illnesses and special medical needs. Although unprecedented in the United States, triage management needs for this disaster were similar to other large-scale public health emergencies, both natural and human-generated, that occurred globally in the past half-century.

Mass medical evacuation: Hurricane Katrina and nursing experiences at the New Orleans airport.

Hurricane Katrina, a category 4 storm, struck the U.S. Gulf states in late August, 2005, resulting in the most costly and second most deadly natural disaster in recent United States history.

Demand for poison control center services "surged" during the 2003 blackout.

Background: Beginning 8/14/03, for 24 hours, the largest geographic power failure in U.S. history occurred.

Blackout 2003: preparedness and lessons learned from the perspectives of four hospitals.

Introduction: The blackout in North America of August 2003 was one of the worst on record. It affected eight US states and parts of Canada for >24 hours. Additionally, two large US cities, Detroit, Michigan and Cleveland, Ohio, suffered from a loss of water pressure and a subsequent ban on the use of public supplies of potable water that lasted four days.

The use of trained observers as an evaluation tool for a multi-hospital bioterrorism exercise.

Introduction: Evidence suggests that regular disaster exercises have beneficial effects on subsequent mock and actual disaster responses. The purpose of this report is to describe a multiple hospital, bioterrorism exercise, evaluated by independent observers who used an evaluation template.

Methods: The overall tabletop exercise design included participation from 23 Joint Commission Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations hospitals, four health departments, and a representative from one federal agency.

Testing emergency medical personnel response to patients with suspected infectious disease.

Objectives: In the United States (US), hospitals are required to have disaster plans and stage drills to test these plans in order to satisfy the Joint Accreditation Commission of Healthcare Organizations. The focus of this drill was to test if emergency response personnel, both prehospital and hospital, would identify a patient with a potentially communicable infectious disease, and activate their respective disaster plan.

Methods: Twelve urban/suburban emergency departments (ED) received patients via car and ambulance.