Resources

For healthcare professionals.

Breaking News

After a time, these items move down to the appropriate categories below.

H1N1 Update 27 May 2009 - WHO has been consulting with scientists and other advisors about going to Alert Phase 6. They are currently at Phase 5. The declaration of Phase 5 is a strong signal that a pandemic is imminent. Phase 6 is the pandemic phase indicating that a global pandemic is under way. The phases are intended to help countries prepare for the virus. Since H1N1 has not been particularly lethal, some are questioning if increasing the alert level would be beneficial.

CMS Issues Final Rule on Patient Restraints
The final rule, COP: Patient Rights, is almost entirely about "patient restraints" and seclusion. The rule includes some significant changes related to training. All staff working with restrained patients must be trained initially and "on a periodic basis" thereafter. For those wishing to skim to significant content, here is an annotated version of the final rule.

Bioterrorism

U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) - Since 1969, SAMRIID has spearheaded research on vaccines, drugs, and diagnostics to protect our service members from biological threats. Now, their work is directly relevant to domestic preparedness. Under Reference Materials you will can download or order the must have "Blue Book, Sixth Edition: Medical Management of Biological Casualties Handbook".

Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) - Nice coverage of influenza, bioterrorism related disease, food safety, and biosecurity. Published by the University of Minnesota.

Chemical Incidents and Terrorism

United States Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense - A good source for text-based courses and textbooks, including the must have "Medical Management of Chemical Casualties Handbook".

Lessons Learned from the Tokyo Subway Sarin Attack - Summary by Tetsu Okumura, 28 September 2000.

Interviews with survivors of the Bhopal Incident - An Indian site with a collection of nterviews. Very good first hand perspective.

Education Design and Theory

Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction - Robert Gagne is recognized as a key theorist in educational design, especially adult education. His 9 instruction points are included in the design of most Medfilms' courses.

Dual Coding Theory - Allan Paivio's theory that says recall and recognition is enhanced by presenting information in both visual and verbal form. Paivio is recognized as one of the most important theorists on cognition. All Medfilms' productions utilize dual-coding techniques.

Power Point Does Rocket Science - A sample from Edward Tufte's famous essay on what's wrong with Power Point.  Tufte, Yale University, is one of the best known theorists and writers on visual communication.  He was employed by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board to review the role of Power Point in the accident.

Modernizing Emergency Training - Article by Alan K. Reeter on the value of story-based training, interactivity, and exercises. It recounts how training saved more than 30 lives during the crash of United 232. Section of Emergency Medicine. Newsletter of the American College of Emergency Physicians, V 15, N 2 April 2006.

Emergency Preparedness and Threat Information

The more unusual and educational sites.

Global Incident Map - Provides a nice map of incidents world wide. When you first open the map it will be cluttered. Scroll down to find the controls for "event types" and time span. The map is interactive, meaning you can click on an event to see the details of the incident.

USAF's Gateway to Intelligence - (please, no jokes) The Air War College maintains this site. It is arguably the best source of intelligence reports, analysis, and educational material. See declassified reports on Iraq, 911 reports, terrorism, etc. Very educational and well worth exploring.

Health Resources

The most credible web sites for general, consumer health information.

MayoClinic.com - Provides access to the experience and knowledge of the more than 2,000 physicians and scientists of Mayo Clinic.

WebMD - A corporation providing services that help physicians, consumers, providers and health plans navigate the complexity of the healthcare system.

InteliHealth - Aetna InteliHealth provides credible information from the most trusted sources, including Harvard Medical School and University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine.

MDChoice - MDchoice.com is a privately held company founded by academic physicians. It's goal is to make access to the health and medical information as efficient and reliable as possible for healthcare professionals as well as consumers.

National Institutes of Health - NIH's health information for consumers.

Hospital Incident Command System

FEMA/NIMS FY 2006 NIMS Training Requirements - Training requirements that must be met as a condition of receiving federal preparedness funding.

National Standard Curriculum Training Development Guidance (NIMS/FEMA) - FEMA's PDF describing the 17 Elements for adopting NIMS. Includes a description of the required training and a checklist (page 16) for evaluating training courses provided by governmental and private organizations. October 2005.

NIMS Training Guidelines Fact Sheet - This is a one page FEMA/NIMS chart listing personnel duties and the training that they are required to receive.

NIMS/FEMA ICS-100 Training Checklist - FEMA's ICS-100 training checklist. A two page executive summary excerpted from cited source documents.

Modernizing Emergency Training - Article by Alan K. Reeter on the value of story-based training and exercises. Recounts how training saved lives during the crash of United 232. Section of Emergency Medicine. Newsletter of the American College of Emergency Physicians, V 15, N 2 April 2006.

Infection Control, Influenza and Pandemic

CDC Infection Control Guidance
The "Guideline for Isolation Precautions: Preventing Transmission of Infectious Agents in Healthcare Settings" includes some significant changes including:

• The addition of Respiratory Hygiene/Cough Etiquette and safe injection practices.
• The term “nosocomial infections“ is replaced by “healthcare associated infections” (HAIs).
• Update on the components of the Protective Environment (PE).

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/pdf/guidelines/Isolation2007.pdf

WHO - Influenza Situation Updates - The World Health Organization's current situation updates are published as the events occur. Updated about every 2-7 days.

OSHA Issues Pandemic Influenza Guidance for Healthcare

This 100 page guidance addresses infection control, pandemic preparedness, and "Staff Education and Training".  It contains two items of particular importance. One is that OSHA is requiring that staff training be conducted before a pandemic. Second, they now allow facilities to reuse N95 respirators if supplies run low. While a guidance is not technically a regulation or standard, healthcare facilities may be cited for non-compliance under the "General Duty Clause". http://www.osha.gov/Publications/OSHA_pandemic_health.pdf

SARS Commission Final Report - Released to the public 9 January 2007. The Commission was established by the Government of Ontario. It reported on how the SARS virus came to the province, how the virus spread, how it was dealt with, and lessons learned. We highly recommend the "Thirteen Essential Questions" in Vol. 1, Executive Summary.

CDC's Weekly Influenza Map - CDC's Weekly US Map: Influenza Summary Update.

Current Flu US Flu Map - A very nice map sponsored by Roche. Click on the map to see specific state information. Be sure to look at the lower right corner of the map page to see the "Interactive Flu Seasonal Maps". It displays animations of the spread of flu from previous seasons.

PandemicFlu.gov - Managed by the Department of Health and Human Services.

APIC Practice Guidelines - Reprinted infection control guidelines from CDC and HICPAC.

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) - Published weekly by the CDC.

Influenza Training: Changing Culture - Article by Alan Reeter in Managing Infection Control, Oct 2006.

Radiological Incidents and Terrorism

Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute (AFRRI) - Program guidance and research programs.  A source for the must have "Medical Management of Radiological Casualties Handbook".

Fact Sheet on Dirty Bombs - U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

FEMA Nuclear Power Plant Emergency - Information on preparing and responding to nuclear emergencies.

Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF) - The Japanese-United States research organization studying the effects of radiation on the survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Fighting Radiological Terrorism with Knowledge - article in DOE Pulse, (Dept. of Energy newsletter) about Los Alamos National Laboratory assisting with the production of Medfilms' Radiological Terrorism course.

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