HAZMAT Technician-level Emergency Response: A Mental Model Framework for Radiological Dispersal Device (RDD) Incidents.

This research examines the cognitive frameworks used by HAZMAT technicians when responding to incidents involving Radiological Dispersal Devices (RDDs), which are conventional explosive devices with radioactive materials incorporated. The objective is to introduce the Expected Mental Model State (EMMS) as a comprehensive evaluation tool for assessing and enhancing the expertise and situational awareness of emergency responders dealing with radiation crises. Through a series of expert focus group sessions using the well-established qualitative methodology of grounded theory, an Expected Mental Model State (EMMS) was developed.

Initiative to Improve Postintubation Sedation in a Pediatric Emergency Department.

Background: Previous research has shown that appropriate pediatric postintubation sedation (PIS) after rapid sequence intubation only occurs 28% of the time. Factors such as high provider variability, cognitive overload, and errors of omission can delay time to PIS in a paralyzed patient.

Purpose: To increase the proportion of children receiving timely PIS by 20% within 6 months.

Radiological & toxicological risk assessment and the linear no-threshold perspective.

The paper proposes that risk assessment and regulatory positions applied in the United States for radiological sources and chemical toxicological agents are similar, primarily as a result of what the exposed populations expect. They expect a world where it is unlikely that they will experience harmful deterministic effects from exposure. They also expect lifetime exposures to be controlled so risks from stochastic effects like cancer are at levels as low as reasonably achievable.

The ROSS: A Radiological/Nuclear Subject Matter Expert Filling a Critical National Need.

This paper was created from a presentation the author made at the 2017 National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) Annual Meeting on 6 March 2017. The Fifty-Third Annual Meeting of the NCRP was titled Assessment of National Efforts in Emergency Preparedness for Nuclear Terrorism: Is There a Need for Realignment to Close Remaining Gaps? Like the presentation, this paper describes one effort to fill what has been identified as one of the more critical gaps in our U.S.