Training for Terrorism-Related Conditions in Hospitals: United States,
2003-2004
For Immediate Release:
December 11,
2006
Contact: CDC
National Center for Health Statistics Press Office(301) 458-4800
E-mail: nchsquery@cdc.gov
Training for
Terrorism-Related Conditions in Hospitals: United States, 2003-04.
Advance Data Number 380. 9 pp. (PHS) 2007-1250.
The report, “Training for
Terrorism-Related Conditions in Hospitals: United States, 2003-2004,” is
based on data from the annual National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care
Survey, conducted by CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).
Among the findings:
Teaching
hospitals were better trained than other hospitals for bioterrorism, and
Joint Commission accredited hospitals had prepared more of their physicians,
physician assistants, nurse practitioners, nurses and lab staff for such
emergencies.
Eighty-eight
percent of hospitals surveyed in 2003 and 2004 said their nurses had been
trained in how to recognize and treat patients exposed to at least one of
seven pathogens including: smallpox, anthrax, plague, botulism, tularemia,
viral encephalitis and hemorrhagic fever, or chemical or radiological
attacks.
Eighty-six
percent of the clinical staff in hospitals with 24-hour emergency
departments or outpatient clinics were trained to recognize and treat
smallpox, and 82 percent were trained to recognize and treat anthrax
infection.