Health Systems

The Design of the Future U.S. Hospital System U.S. healthcare officials, working in close cooperation with long-range planners & political decision makers, are already pondering what the nation's future hospital infrastructure should look like. Here are some ideas to consider. read

Mass-Fatality Management Planning - A Hospital Perspective Most U.S. hospitals & other healthcare facilities focus their efforts on saving lives & helping those who are seriously injured. The handling of the dead, sometimes a large number at the same time, is a different but almost equally important skill. read

Greater Responsibilities, More Recognition for Hospital Emergency Managers The healthcare failures during and in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina received more publicity than the many unpublicized successes. Nonetheless, a new look at hospital emergency management was obviously needed, and is now well underway. read

Hospital Emergency Management: The Anatomy of Growth Prior to 11 September 2001 the term "emergency management" was more an abstract theory than an operational mandate. Today it is a full fledged profession, particularly in hospitals & other medical facilities, so must be factored into all major planning. read

Business and Personal Preparedness - the Key to Collective Survival Small businesses have big problems - during and in the aftermath of incidents causing damage to their facilities, inventories, and supply chains. The Homeland Security & Defense Business Council recognizes the problem & is doing something about it. read

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Public Health

The Myth of the Cordon Sanitaire The best way to cope with an avian-flu pandemic is to pre-designate certain hospitals as "flu-only" facilities - right? No - absolutely wrong! For a variety of practical, economic, and medical reasons. Here are some of them. read

Partnerships at Work in Public Health Planning The Commonwealth of Virginia once again provides a best-practices example of the best way to plan for a potential mass-casualty disaster: Ensure that all stakeholders, private-sector as well as government, are fully involved ahead of time, and practice. read

Public-Health Planning: Partnerships Work The Commonwealth of Virginia provides another best-practices example - this time in the public-health field - of how private-sector organizations can work with one another, and with their government counterparts, before rather than after a crisis erupts. read

Gap Analysis - A Long and Winding Process Disaster planning is difficult, time-consuming, sometimes boring - but also absolutely necessary. And in the long run it conserves resources, permits the most efficient use of the usually limited medical staff available, and saves a lot of lives. read

Anatomy of a Near-Miss Radiation Disaster The 2006 assassination of former KGB Colonel Alexander Litvenenko was eventually solved - but there are many questions still unanswered as well as strong suspicions about the operating tactics of Russia's post-USSR political leaders. read

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