Journal of public health management and practice : JPHMP
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J Public Health Manag Pract · Mar 2009
The national disaster life support programs: a model for competency-based standardized and locally relevant training.
With grant funding from the Department of Health and Human Services under the Bioterrorism Training and Curriculum Development Program, the Medical College of Georgia Center of Operational Medicine (MCG-COM) provided an integrated disaster medicine continuing education program for the state of Georgia. This educational program was based on the American Medical Association (AMA) National Disaster Life Support (NDLS) curricula. With supplemental funding, the MCG-COM developed and piloted a national training strategy for all-hazards disaster preparedness education. ⋯ This consortium, currently consisting of more than 75 participating organizations and federal liaisons, is responsible for all curriculum updates for the NDLS courses. Under this model, multidisciplinary crosscutting disaster medicine competencies and a proposed educational framework were developed. The resulting competencies and framework have been published in the peer-reviewed literature and are being integrated into the NDLS curricula.
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J Public Health Manag Pract · Nov 2008
ReviewEffective environmental public health surveillance programs: a framework for identifying and evaluating data resources and indicators.
The complexity and multidisciplinary nature of environmental public health (EPH) surveillance call for a systematic framework and a concrete set of criteria to guide development, selection, and evaluation of environmental public health indicators. Environmental public health indicators are the foundation of a comprehensive EPH surveillance system, providing quantitative summary measures and descriptive information about spatial and temporal trends of hazard, exposure, and health effects over person, place, and time. ⋯ By outlining a process and identifying important constructs and criteria, the framework provides practitioners with an effective and systematic tool for making scientifically valid programmatic decisions about EPH content development. Improved decision making ensures more effective EPH surveillance systems and enhanced opportunities to understand and protect the public health from environmental threats.
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J Public Health Manag Pract · Mar 2008
Effect of surgical masks worn concurrently over N95 filtering facepiece respirators: extended service life versus increased user burden.
Growing concern over the availability of Respiratory protective devices (eg, filtering facepiece Respirators), in the face of the probable extreme demand brought on by a pandemic influenza, has prompted the suggestion that useful life of N95 filtering facepiece Respirator can be extended by the concurrent use of a surgical mask as an outer protective barrier over the Respirator. Personal protective equipment generally places a strain on the user, and the detrimental physiological and psychological burdens normally imposed by Respirator use could be magnified by the addition of an extra layer of protection such as a surgical mask. The issue of this potentially increased burden of the concurrent use of a surgical facemask with an N95 filtering facepiece Respirator is investigated to afford users the necessary information to make informed decisions Regarding the use of this Respiratory personal protective equipment in the face of large-scale outbreaks of Respiratory pathogens.
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Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) are the best available synthesis of research in providing clinical care, yet the degree of adoption remains less than optimal. One reason may be that the routes of dissemination and the mode of construction do not match the needs of the typical healthcare practice. This study uses a systems approach in understanding the interplay between routes of CPG dissemination, the construction of CPGs, and the likelihood that healthcare organizations will adopt these guidelines.