Public Health Emergency Preparedness

Addressing Surge Capacity in a Mass Casualty Event. Bioterrorism Preparedness Issue Brief, No. 9, December 2005, 8 pp. Summarizes a Web conference that examined some of the ways resources might be deployed in response to a mass casualty event. (AHRQ 06-0027)

Addressing the Smallpox Threat: Issues, Strategies, and Tools. Bioterrorism Preparedness Issue Brief, No. 1, February 2004, 6 pp. Summarizes an audio-conference that examined the implementation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's smallpox vaccination program and strategies to assist public health officials in responding to a potential smallpox outbreak. (AHRQ 04-P006)

AHRQ's Bioterrorism and Health System Preparedness Initiative. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, August 2006. Provides information about AHRQ's bioterrorism and health system preparedness initiative, describing resources and examples of funded initiatives. (AHRQ 06-M045)

Altered Standards of Care in Mass Casualty Events. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, March 2005, 43 pp. White Paper summarizes the recommendations of a group of experts who met in August 2004 to discuss the provision of health and medical care in a mass casualty event. (AHRQ 05-0043)

Bioterrorism and Other Public Health Emergencies: Tools and Models for Planning and Preparedness

Adapting Community Call Centers for Crisis Support: A Model for Home-Based Care and Monitoring. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, September 2007, 222 pp. Describes the development, testing, and implementation of a model to enable community health call centers—such as poison control centers, nurse advice lines, and other hotlines—to support home management and shelter-in-place approaches in certain mass casualty or health emergency events. (AHRQ 07-0048)

Emergency Preparedness Atlas: U.S. Nursing Home and Hospital Facilities. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, April 2007, 281 pp. Provides an overview of the role and potential needs of nursing homes in the event of a public health emergency, presents a series of case studies illustrating the ways in which nursing homes may be used to accommodate a surge of patients in six States, and presents an atlas of full-color maps of selected health care facilities for all 50 States and the District of Columbia. (AHRQ 07-0029-2). CD-ROM (AHRQ 07-0029-2-CD)

Mass Medical Care with Scarce Resources: A Community Planning Guide. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, February 2007, 166 pp. A guide to assist planners at the facility, community, State, and Federal levels in their efforts to plan for and respond to a mass casualty event in the context of broader emergency planning. (AHRQ 07-0001)

Nursing Homes in Public Health Emergencies: Special Needs and Potential Roles. E. Root, J. Amoozegar, S. Bernard, May 2007, 50 pp. Presents findings from a series of focus group discussions about disaster and bioterrorism-related planning activities among nursing homes in Southern California and in five States: North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Utah, as well as the influence of State regulations on nursing homes. (AHRQ 07-0029-1)

Pediatric Terrorism and Disaster Preparedness; A Resource for Pediatricians. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, October 2006, CD-ROM and 34 pp summary. Discusses the various roles and responsibilities of community- and hospital-based pediatricians in preparing for and responding to natural disasters and bioterrorism events to ensure that the special needs of children are considered and incorporated into planning at the local, State, regional, and Federal levels.
Summary. October 2006 (AHRQ 06(07)-0056-1) Full Report (CD-ROM). October 2006 (06(07)-0056-CD)

Changing Organizations for Their Likely Mass-Casualties Future. J. Begun, J. Jiang, Advances in Health Care Management 4:2004,163-180. Investigates how organizations can change in order to be better prepared for unforeseen, catastrophic events in general, and bioterrorism in particular. (AHRQ 05-R004)

Community-Based Mass Prophylaxis: A Planning Guide for Public Health Preparedness. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, August 2004, 74 pp. Planning guide to assist public health and emergency management officials devise comprehensive mass prophylaxis plans to ensure that civilian populations have timely access to necessary antibiotics and/or vaccines in the event of a bioterrorist attack or natural disease outbreak. (AHRQ 04-0044)

Current Status of Surge Research. S. Phillips, Academic Emergency Medicine 13(11): October 2006, 1103-1108. Describes research on emergency department preparedness and surge capacity and focuses primarily on the work of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in this area. (AHRQ 07-R023)

Decontamination of Children: Preparedness and Response for Hospital Emergency Departments. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, October 2005, 27-minute video. Demonstrates for emergency responders and hospital emergency department staff how to safely decontaminate children who have been exposed to hazardous chemicals, including those from a bioterrorist attack. DVD (AHRQ 05-0036-DVD); Video (AHRQ 05-0036-VD)

Developing Alternative Approaches to Mass Casualty Care: The Role of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Bioterrorism Preparedness Issue Brief, No. 11, September 2006, 6 pp. Reviews AHRQ's research on mass casualty care, describing projects funded by AHRQ that have made major contributions to that effort. (AHRQ 06-0073)

Development of Models for Emergency Preparedness. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, August 2005, 161 pp. Summarizes current evidence-based, best demonstrated practices relating to preparedness for health care professionals in the topics of personal protective equipment, decontamination, isolation/quarantine, and laboratory capacity. (AHRQ 05-0099)

Disaster Planning Drills and Readiness Assessment. Bioterrorism Preparedness Issue Brief, No. 2, February 2004, 4 pp. Summarizes an audio-conference that examined resources to assist hospitals and other health systems in preparing for bioterrorism disasters, and in conducting disaster response. (AHRQ 04-P007)

Emergency Severity Index, Version 4. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, May 2005. Presents a five-level emergency department triage algorithm that provides clinically relevant stratification of patients into five groups from most urgent to least urgent on the basis of acuity and resource needs. Everything You Need to Know, Set of two DVDs (AHRQ 05-0046-DVD Implementation Handbook, spiral bound, 82 pp, and poster (AHRQ 05-0046-2)

Evaluation of Hospital Disaster Drills: A Module-Based Approach. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, April 2004, 128 pp. In collaboration with Johns Hopkins University, presents an approach to the evaluation of hospital disaster drills that consists of a series of evaluation modules and addendums to identify specific weaknesses that can be targeted for improvement, and to promote continuing efforts to strengthen hospital disaster preparedness. (AHRQ 04-0032) CD-ROM (AHRQ 04-0032-CD)

Health Emergency Assistance Line and Triage Hub (HEALTH) Model. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, January 2005, 92 pp. Report helps planners determine the requirements, specifications, and resources needed for developing an emergency contact center such as the HEALTH model. (AHRQ 05-0040)

Linkages With Community Providers. Bioterrorism Preparedness Issue Brief, No. 6, January 2005, 4 pp. Summarizes a Web-assisted audio-conference that examined the role of community providers in detecting and responding to a potential bioterrorist event or other public health emergency, and also examined the efforts of a pediatric practice-based research network to enable community-based providers to share information on emerging public health threats. (AHRQ 05-0032)

Mass Prophylaxis: Building Blocks for Community Preparedness. Bioterrorism Preparedness Issue Brief, No. 10, June 2006, 8 pp. Describes five projects funded by AHRQ that provide tools that local planners can use to prepare their communities for mass prophylaxis. (AHRQ 06-0050)

Optimizing Surge Capacity: Hospital Assessment and Planning. Bioterrorism Preparedness Issue Brief, No. 3, February 2004, 4 pp. Summarizes an audio-conference that examined tools to assist hospitals and other health care facilities to assess their current capacity and develop a plan to achieve surge capacity. (AHRQ 04-P008)

Optimizing Surge Capacity: Regional Efforts in Bioterrorism Readiness. Bioterrorism Preparedness Issue Brief, No. 4, February 2004, 6 pp. Summarizes an audioconference that examined regional strategies to identify and mobilize resources to respond to a public health disaster such as a bioterrorist attack. (AHRQ 04-P009)

Project XTREME. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, March 2007. A CD-ROM and DVD set for use in cross-training non-respiratory therapy health care professionals in basic respiratory care and ventilator management in the event of a public health emergency. Model for Health Professionals' Cross-Training for Mass Casualty Respiratory Needs (Report; CD-ROM). Cross-Training Respiratory Extenders for Medical Emergencies (Training program, DVD). March 2007 CD-ROM and DVD Set. (AHRQ 07-0017-MW)

Reopening Shuttered Hospitals to Expand Surge Capacity. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, February 2006, 193 pp. Offers comprehensive guidance on how to reopen a shuttered or partially shuttered hospital to serve as a medical surge facility. Covers physical structure, supply and staffing needs, security, patient transport, and information requirements. Includes a Surge Tool Kit and Facility Checklist, 171 pp. in a three-ring binder. Tool Kit guides staff step by step on planning, reopening, operating, and closing down the hospital. Checklist provides detailed prompts for facility inspection with space for notes on findings. Report (AHRQ 06-0029); Surge Tool Kit and Facility Checklist (AHRQ 06-0029-A)

Rocky Mountain Regional Care Model for Bioterrrorist Events. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, August 2004. Model helps State and local officials quickly locate alternate health care sites if hospitals are overwhelmed by patients due to a bioterrorism attack or other public health emergency. Accompanying alternate care site selection tool helps regional planners locate and rank potential alternative sites such as stadiums or schools based on whether they have adequate ventilation, plumbing, food supply, kitchen facilities, and other factors. (AHRQ 04-0075)

The Role of Information Technology and Surveillance Systems in Bioterrorism Readiness. Bioterrorism Preparedness Issue Brief, No. 5, March 2005, 5 pp. Describes syndromic monitoring systems and how they are used to track trends within patient populations and to establish early warning of disease outbreaks, including potential bioterrorist activity. (AHRQ 05-0072)

Surge Capacity—Education and Training for a Qualified Workforce. Bioterrorism Preparedness Issue Brief, No. 7, October 2004, 6 pp. Summarizes an audio-conference that examined how education and training efforts are being used to create and maintain the readiness of an appropriately trained workforce that can respond to a sudden increase in surge capacity needs. (AHRQ 04-P028)

Surge Capacity: Facilities and Equipment. Bioterrorism and Health System Preparedness Issue Brief, No. 8, October 2005, 8 pp. Summarizes a Web-assisted audio-conference devoted to the need for facilities and equipment as a critical component in planning for surge capacity. (AHRQ 05(06)-0100)

AHRQ Publications Order Form

Return to Contents
Proceed to Next Section