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Post by Megan Mikesell on Nov 1, 2016 21:09:36 GMT
In the movie, hospitals were overwhelmed with patients, sick and scared. The lack of protocol and resources led to nurses going on strike. The care of patients across the United States was left to healthcare workers and untrained volunteers who risked their lives to continue treatment. The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has a “Pandemic Influenza Plan” in place, but it lacks in areas such as prioritization and calculating inpatient surge demands. There needs to be collaborative planning among regional hospitals, protection of hospital employees, and a system for allocating healthcare resources when scarce. Triaging sick from healthy patients and keeping epidemic infected patients away from other hospital patients can prevent further spread of disease. Personal protective equipment and N95 masks should be stocked and passed out immediately to hospital personnel. Experts have also suggested a separate area for employee dependents to be cared for so that healthcare workers do not miss work in order to care for family. This ensures that their family is treated as well as getting them to work. One major problem with preparedness is cost. A 2006 study estimated that an average hospital of 164 beds would spend $1 million to develop a specific plan using experts, staff education and training, and stockpiling personal protective equipment and basic supplies. With biological weapon threats and antibiotic resistance, I believe preparedness is a major public health concern in our world today.
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Post by Lex Hurley on Nov 2, 2016 16:52:17 GMT
Megan, I absolutely agree with your call for increased hospital preparedness measures in the event of a disaster and/or pandemic. I believe that we have lulled ourselves into a false sense of complacency with entities such as hospitals because since they've always worked at a set level, we continue to assume that they always will work at that level in just about any circumstances. However if a physical or pathogenic disaster of some sort hit a large area, hospitals will be flooded with patients with only a finite number of available healthcare workers who are now at high risk for being injured, infected, or otherwise incapacitated or more likely being overwhelmed or concerned for their families and simply taking off. I would also add to your point in a similar vein that disaster preparedness measures should also be implemented in our basic water and power resources and infrastructure. These utility workers likely would not have half the desire to stay their ground and keep working in the face of disaster as healthcare professionals, and if those plants do end up failing and cities are left without running water and electricity, then we are basically sent back to the stone age where waterborne diseases can spread rife.
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Post by Megan Mikesell on Nov 2, 2016 18:28:31 GMT
You are absolutely correct. I think we would realized the number of vital jobs when things start falling apart. Water purification could be halted, electricity would be out, trash would pile up, etc. Some people may think that preparing for extreme situations such as a deadly pandemic or bioterrorism is just being paranoid and pessimistic; however we should be prepared. It is better to have a plan in place before hand and nothing happen than not think about it and the worst happen.
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Post by Summre Blakely on Nov 6, 2016 22:16:12 GMT
This is such an important topic, especially with, as you mentioned, the overuse of antibiotics as well as the ever growing presence of terrorist organizations in today's world! Can you imagine what folks would do if power was lost and we couldn't use technology anymore? I always think back to documentaries from the 1960s about the threat of nuclear bombs, where clear disaster plans were set and fully explained to the general public in case of an emergency. While it seemed a little extreme, had their been an actual attack, most Americans would have been prepared. Today, no such plans seem to be advertised to the general public, and it seems that the healthcare system isn't prepared either. In the film, once the infrastructure started to collapse due to the severity of the outbreak, chaos ensued. People started to break in to pharmacies to steal drugs, supermarkets were hubs for violence and turf wars, and no one seemed to have a clue as to what to do to not contract the influenza. I know that the CDC has plans for such outbreaks, but making them more available to the public could be greatly beneficial. Also, if people are better informed of what to do and what not to do, it might ease the burden on hospitals and clinics.
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Post by Leslee Castro on Dec 8, 2016 4:12:57 GMT
Hello Megan! I would completely agree that preparedness is a major public health concern, and proper protocol needs to be implemented in hospitals to ensure that we are prepared for potential outbreaks of the nature that was depicted in the movie. I think that you provide excellent suggestions of preparation that can be done in order to prevent the spread of infectious disease from healthy individuals to those that are infected. While a lot of us have not had direct experience with this type of scare, it is important to be aware and prepared of a potential outbreak that could cause fear and irrational thinking. People do not thoroughly understand why this is important, and that can make it difficult for preparation in these types of situations.
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