With the attacks of September 11, 2001, Hurricane Katrina, and more recently the potential of a flu pandemic, public attention has increasingly focused on the ability of our Nation's health care system to respond to mass casualty incidents. In response to this concern, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and Health Resources and Services Administration, developed "Preparedness for Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosive (CBRNE) Events: Questionnaire for Health Care Facilities."
The questionnaire, funded by HRSA, was developed through an AHRQ contract with Booz Allen Hamilton, with the advice and consultation of an expert panel. The panel consisted of medical subject matter experts trained and experienced in the hospital care of victims of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and/or explosive events. While the questionnaire covers major areas of hospital preparedness, it should not be considered definitive. Each hospital must take into account specific preparedness needs related to its own environment, facilities, staff, and patient population.
This Administrator's Guide is intended for the individual at the State or local health department or multi-hospital health care system who will be responsible for administering the questionnaire and analyzing the resulting data. Hereafter, we will refer to this individual as the "administrator."
The Guide provides an overview of the questionnaire and details on its use. It contains information on the following items:
As the individual responsible for the questionnaire administration and data oversight, there are several functions that the administrator may provide. These include communicating the purpose and processes associated with the questionnaire, answering questions from the respondent community, monitoring response rates of the responder community, compiling and analyzing the data, and providing any necessary reports. The following sections provide direction and supporting information to fulfill those roles.
While this guide primarily addresses technical issues, the administrator must also consider a number of overall executive functions. These include providing any pre-questionnaire communiqués to the target community, as well as ongoing user support. These are discussed in subsequent sections.
Ideally, the administrator or a designee should notify the potential respondents. This communiqué will describe the purpose of the questionnaire, the submission deadline, use of the data, roles and responsibilities, and what to expect. In addition, the administrator should consider sending another version of the communiqué out approximately half way through the questionnaire administration period to thank those individuals who responded and to attempt to bolster response rates among the nonresponders.
The administrator should consider offering ongoing respondent support for questions or technical difficulty, including the point of contact's name, telephone number, and/or E-mail address, as well as an estimate of how long the user can expect to wait for help (e.g., immediate, within a business day, etc.).