Monthly Archives: July 2017

Emergency Preparedness for Every Emergency

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Check out the CMS website which provides numerous resources and guidelines related to emergency preparedness in the United States

Below is a sample of what you will find on the website:

Mission

Enable Federal, State, Tribal, Regional, and local governmental agencies, and health care providers to respond to every emergency in a timely, collaborative, organized, and effective manner.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Survey and Certification Group (SCG) has developed this site to provide useful information to CMS Central and Regional Offices, State Survey Agencies (SAs), their State, Tribal, Regional, and local emergency management partners, and health care providers, for developing effective and robust emergency plans and responses.

This Web site provides information and tools, utilizing an “all hazards” approach for disruptive events such as:
• Pandemic flu (e.g., H1N1 influenza virus)
• Hurricanes
• Tornados
• Fires
• Earthquakes
• Power outages
• Chemical spills
• Nuclear or biological terrorist attack
• Etc.

This Web site provides “one-stop shopping” to obtain both mandated and voluntary emergency preparedness information and tools.

The Web site will be updated regularly to provide helpful guidance regarding issues such as:
• Clarifying the roles, responsibilities and actions of CMS Central and Regional Survey & Certification (S&C) Offices.
• Clarifying the roles, responsibilities, and actions of SAs.
• Effective emergency planning across all health care provider types to ensure the well-being of vulnerable populations – whether in long-term care, acute care, or community-based facilities — during a disruptive event.

Deadline for ARC Conference Abstracts Extended to August 31, 2017!

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This year’s deadline for ARC Conference Call for Abstract submissions has been extended to August 31! Please go to http://www.arc4em.org/call-for-abstracts to learn more and to submit.


Check out the updated 3-day Joint Conference agenda, including panel session descriptions and speakers, by visiting http://www.arc4em.org/events-meetings/agenda.

2017 ARC Conference
Mark your calendar! This year’s Annual Conference—in conjunction with the National Healthcare Coalition Resource Center’s 6th Annual National Healthcare Coalition Preparedness Conference—will be held at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina on November 28-30.

 

 

Academic-Practice Partnerships Can Improve Preparedness

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The United States needs a healthcare and public health workforce that possesses the knowledge, skills, and abilities to respond to any disaster or public health emergency in a timely and appropriate manner. The level of readiness and willingness to participate is critical to the success of any large-scale disaster response. The role of healthcare professionals across a broad range of specialties and during all phases of a disaster should be understood as disaster competence will be critical to population outcomes. The absence of a clearly articulated vision and framework for disaster education is not without consequences. An unprepared workforce has the potential to limit the effectiveness of local, state and federal response plans, limit organization surge capacity and to negatively impact health outcomes in populations impacted by disasters.

A team of researchers from the University of Missouri – Saint Louis, Saint Louis University, and Johns Hopkins recently undertook a multi-pronged approached to identify essential educational needs and core competencies, as well as to assess the status of integration of state and local-level population focused training. Data were synthesized from in-depth discussions with key informants, review of relevant documents, guided discussions at key partner stakeholder meetings, review and abstraction from available core competencies and other government planning documents, the survey of medical, public health, and nursing programs and interviews with experts.

We developed a toolkit using a collaborative and partner-centered approach to disaster preparedness and response which is designed for interdisciplinary workforce development. We are posting all of the toolkits on https://disasternursing.org/toolkit/ and are dedicated to making them all available in the Creative Commons. The modules, curriculum, and workshop all reflect collaboration between public health and primary care. The flexible guidance will help primary care providers to apply theoretical principals during disaster response and preparedness activities with a population focus. A workforce that is continually learning and collaborative is essential to prepared communities. All are welcome to attend the workshop that is scheduled for July 27, 2017. You can register at https://disasternursing.org/events/ . The event is free, but registration is required.