USPHS Scientific & Training Symposium: SCIENTIFIC PROGRAM AGENDA
09:45 a.m. – 10:15 a.m. Track 4: Strategies for Improving Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response
Mohave Room, Tucson Convention Center
Obstetrics Care During Disasters and Evacuations
LCDR John Heusinkveld, MS, MD, USPHS, Chief of OBGYN at Northern Navajo Medical Center
Presentation (pps, 138 KB)
This session will examine the challenges of providing effective obstetrics caring during disaster responses and evacuations. The experience of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 showed the United States public health obstetrics community the need to plan for ways to maintain the highest standards of obstetrics care possible during larger and longer population displacements than those to which we had previously been accustomed. The situation is complicated by the fact that advances in medical science have resulted in pregnancies in many women with medical problems that would have precluded pregnancy in the past.
Questions that need to be considered include what skills and equipment our response teams need to have, how these teams can be supported with expert consultation remotely, and how to identify patients needing evacuation and transport them in a timely fashion to a center where they can be cared for appropriately.
At the end of the session, participants will be able to:
• Describe basic principles of prenatal care
• Discuss how disasters, evacuations and population displacements place pregnant women and their unborn children at risk
• Describe how the emerging threats of biological, chemical, and radiological terrorism may have special impact on pregnant women
10:15 a.m. – 10:45 a.m. Track 4: Strategies for Improving Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response
Mohave Room, Tucson Convention Center
American Indian/Alaska Native Culture Card: Guide for Awareness
CDR R Andrew Hunt, MSW, USPHS, Public Health Adviser, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
Presentation (pps, 903 KB)
This presentation will discuss the development of and potential uses for the American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) Culture Card: a guide to build cultural awareness. The pocket guide is designed to address key issues that public health officials need to be aware of when deployed to a crisis event in an AI/AN community. While it is meant to have the capacity to be a “stand alone” product, the Culture Card will be most effective if accompanied by localized training that addresses the unique cultural aspects of an individual AI/AN community where an officer may be deployed.
At the end of the session, participants will be able to:
• Describe how the Culture Card was developed from a concept to a final product through cooperation and collaboration
• Discuss the contents of the Culture Card
11:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Track 4: Strategies for Improving Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response
Mohave Room, Tucson Convention Center
Hospital-Based Patient Decontamination
CDR David Cramer, RS, MPH, USPHS, Chief of the Office of Environmental Health & Safety at the Phoenix Indian Medical Center
Presentation (pdf, 5.08 MB)
This presentation will provide an overview of a hospital-based patient decontaminating program developed at the Phoenix Indian Medical Center (PIMC). Since September 11th, 2001 and the subsequent anthrax attacks, the need for hospitals to have the capacity for patient decontamination has grown more acute. Joint Commission Hospital Accreditation Standards require hospitals to have the means for radioactive, biological and chemical isolation and decontamination.
PIMC is an Indian Health Service hospital accredited by the Joint Commission. In early 2006, Commissioned Corps Officers from PIMC volunteered to be trained in patient decontamination and response in the event of a chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear attack. February of 2008 will mark the start of the third year of the PIMC Decontamination Team. There are currently 33 officers on the team representing the categories of nursing, pharmacy, health services, therapists and dietitians. The team assembles on a bi-monthly basis to conduct training and exercises.
At the end of the session, participants will be able to:
• Describe the history of the PIMC Decontamination Team
• Discuss best practices for first receivers as implemented by the PIMC Decontamination Team
11:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Track 4: Strategies for Improving Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response
Mohave Room, Tucson Convention Center
Pharmacist Immunization Initiative
LCDR Keith Olin, PharmD, USPHS, Senior Regulatory Review Officer with the Division of Drug Marketing, Advertising, and Communications, U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Presentation (pps, 90 KB)
This presentation will describe the immunization initiative, which has been developed to promote training of U.S. Public Health Service pharmacists in providing immunizations. This initiative is helping pharmacy officers gain experience in educating patients and administering vaccinations, which will increase the overall ability of the U.S. Public Health Service to respond to a call for mass vaccinations. The presentation will describe the key training components of the program.
At the end of the session, participants will be able to:
• Describe how the immunization initiative works
• Describe the initiative’s training objectives
01:30 p.m. – 02:00 p.m. Track 4: Strategies for Improving Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response
Mohave Room, Tucson Convention Center
Patient Safety During Emergency Response
CAPT Arthur French III,MD, USPHS, Coast Guard National Maritime
Presentation (pps, 2.02 MB)
This presentation will explore strategies for enhancing patient safety during emergency response efforts.
Patient safety programs are increasing throughout the health care system in response to ethical, legal and financial forces. The dynamic environment of a disaster places additional mental and physiological stressors on responders, increasing the likelihood of patient care errors. This presentation will discuss how human performance technology principles, such as standardized protocols and clinical pathway performance support systems (job aids) should be incorporated into disaster response teams. The session also will examine how best practices learned from other high-risk occupations, such as aviation, can be integrated into response team training and standard operating procedures.
At the end of the session, participants will be able to:
• Describe the risk factors for increased human errors during emergency responses
• List three error-reduction human performance interventions
• List three resources for emergency response clinical pathways
02:00 p.m. – 02:30 p.m. Track 4: Strategies for Improving Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response
Mohave Room, Tucson Convention Center
Domestic Incident Management in a Pandemic Influenza Outbreak
CDR Joselito Ignacio, CIH, CSP, MPH, R ,USPHS, Environmental Health Program Manager and Executive Assistant to the Department of Homeland Security's National Principal Federal Official Pre-Designee, Vice Admiral Vivien S. Crea, for Pandemic Influenza response
Presentation (pps, 816 KB)
This session will examine the leadership roles of key officials involved in domestic incident management during a pandemic influenza outbreak.
At the end of the session, participants will be able to:
• Describe the roles of senior federal officials
• Discuss how information flows from the local/state governments to the national level
• Describe how response issues get adjudicated if two or more agencies are at an impasse
02:45 p.m. – 03:45 p.m. Track 4: Strategies for Improving Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response
Mohave Room, Tucson Convention Center
Chemoterrorism: The Nerve Agents
Frank Walter, MD, FACEP, FACMT, FAACT, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and the Chief of the Section of Medical Toxicology, University of Arizona. Also, Medical Director, Bureau of Emergency Preparedness and Response for the State of Arizona Department of Health Services
This presentation will discuss the nerve agents' physicochemical characteristics, toxicodynamics (pathophysiology), aging, signs and symptoms, and treatment. The Tokyo Subway sarin attack will be reviewed in detail, highlighting important implications for emergency preparedness and response.
At the end of the session, participants will be able to:
• List the signs and symptoms of nerve agent poisoning, including mnemonics for muscarinic and nicotinic clinical effects
• List the indications, contraindications, complications, dosage, and routes for atropine and pralidoxime
• Discuss the peer-reviewed literature on the Tokyo Subway sarin attack, highlighting important implications for emergency preparedness and response