OBJECTIVES Health care providers play an essential role in public health emergency preparedness and response. We conducted a 4-year randomized controlled trial to systematically compare the effectiveness of traditional and mobile communication strategies for sending time-sensitive public health messages to providers. METHODS Subjects (N=848) included providers who might be leveraged to assist...

Division of Translational Toxicology, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health (EFRP, YA, EXA), and Program of Comparative Medicine and Departments of Pathology, Medicine, and Epidemiology and Public Health (LJDT), University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD; Countervail Corporation (EJB, GWB), Charlotte, NC; Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) (EJW),...

OVERVIEW — This paper examines the existing public health infrastructure with an emphasis on the resources and activities necessary for public health emergency preparedness and response. It provides a brief historical overview of the evolution of public health and contrasts public health interventions with medicine and health care services. The paper summarizes the broad range of activities tha...

Beginning in 2017, new federal leadership can take important steps to vitalize the role of private citizens and businesses as well as faith-based and community-based organizations in the larger public health emergency preparedness (PHEP) enterprise. A broad consensus exists that government on its own cannot effectively and equitably manage epidemics and disasters. Past events repeatedly demonst...

Epidemiological (Epi) team is a team of diverse and multidisciplinary public health professionals who provide support and strength to the capacity of an agency during an event where the need for resources is beyond the routine capability. The Epi teams consist of a staff with skills ranging from specialty areas such as epidemiology, environmental health, health preparedness, nursing, health edu...

OBJECTIVE This report is a summary of hospital preparedness for responding to public health emergencies, including mass casualties and epidemics of naturally occurring diseases such as influenza. METHODS Data are from an emergency response preparedness supplement to the 2008 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, which uses a national probability sample of nonfederal general and sh...

This article describes issues related to the engagement of hospitals and other community partners in a coordinated regional healthcare preparedness and response effort. The report is based on interviews with public health and hospital representatives from 13 regions or states across the country. It aims to identify key ingredients for building successful regional partnerships for healthcare pre...