Disaster medicine and public health preparedness
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Disaster Med Public Health Prep · Feb 2014
Infectious disease frequency among evacuees at shelters after the great eastern Japan earthquake and tsunami: a retrospective study.
After the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and tsunami, the World Health Organization cautioned that evacuees at shelters would be at increased risk of infectious disease transmission; however, the frequency that occurred in this population was not known. ⋯ After the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and tsunami, outbreaks of ARI and acute gastroenteritis occurred in evacuation shelters.
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Disaster Med Public Health Prep · Feb 2014
Effects of humidity on foil and vial packaging to preserve glucose and lactate test strips for disaster readiness.
Efficient emergency and disaster response is challenged by environmental conditions exceeding test reagent storage and operating specifications. We assessed the effectiveness of vial and foil packaging in preserving point-of-care (POC) glucose and lactate test strip performance in humid conditions. ⋯ Both packaging designs appeared to protect glucose and lactate test strips for at least 1 week of high humidity stress. Documented strip failures revealed the need for improved manufacturing process.
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Disaster Med Public Health Prep · Feb 2014
Informing the gestalt: an ethical framework for allocating scarce federal public health and medical resources to states during disasters.
During catastrophic disasters, government leaders must decide how to efficiently and effectively allocate scarce public health and medical resources. The literature about triage decision making at the individual patient level is substantial, and the National Response Framework provides guidance about the distribution of responsibilities between federal and state governments. ⋯ We adapted medical triage and the federalism principle to the decision-making process for allocating scarce federal public health and medical resources. We believe that the logic model provides a values-based framework that can inform the gestalt during the iterative decision process used by federal leaders as they allocate scarce resources to states during catastrophic disasters.