Disaster medicine and public health preparedness
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Disaster Med Public Health Prep · Jun 2013
Successful strategies for recruitment of emergency medical volunteers.
A robust medical volunteer program is critical to ensuring a successful response to public health and medical emergencies. The New York City (NYC) Department of Health and Mental Hygiene created the NYC Medical Reserve Corps in 2003 to build a multidisciplinary team of health professionals who wish to assist NYC with response during large-scale health emergencies. This article reports on the search to determine which recruitment activities have been most successful to date, with the goal of modeling future activities upon those that worked best. ⋯ The local health commissioner or other trusted community figure is an excellent messenger for recruiting emergency volunteers. It is also critical that recruitment messages reach as many potential volunteers as possible to ensure that the requisite number of volunteers and mix of professional disciplines are identified.
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Disaster Med Public Health Prep · Apr 2013
Public expectations for nonemergency hospital resources and services during disasters.
The public's expectations of hospital services during disasters may not reflect current hospital disaster plans. The objective of this study was to determine the public's expected hospital service utilization during a pandemic, earthquake, and terrorist bombing. ⋯ Public expectations of hospitals during disasters are high, and some expectations are inappropriate. Better community disaster planning and public risk communication are needed.
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Disaster Med Public Health Prep · Feb 2013
Randomized Controlled TrialMental health triage tools for medically cleared disaster survivors: an evaluation by MRC volunteers and public health workers.
Psychological assessment after disasters determines which survivors are acutely distressed or medically compromised and what kind of assistance is needed (whether practical or psychological). A mental health triage tool can help direct more people to the appropriate type of help. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the Fast Mental Health Triage Tool (FMHT) and the Alsept-Price Mental Health Scale (APMHS) among public health workers and Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) volunteers in conducting mental health triage. Both tools screen for ability to follow simple commands, chronic medical conditions, mental health conditions and services, occult injuries, and traumatic events in the past year. Both were designed for use in disasters where mental health resources are scarce and survivors are already medically triaged. ⋯ The incorporation of a temporal component should be evaluated for potential inclusion in existing mental health triage systems.