public health response to posts

Post one:

Disaster management in healthcare is very crucial. This is because it can affect performance and thus affect different aspects of the management of disaster. Public health and emergency management systems and agencies have of late been concerned with public health and emergency preparedness. The concept of public health and emergency preparedness now requires updated restructuring in worldwide, national and even regional levels. There are different themes in journals articles that indicate various emergency and disaster preparedness in public health. The different themes include human resources management, physical resources management, victim’s management transfer, environmental health control, nutrition management, mental health control, inter-organizational coordination, training, technology management, budget management, and information and communication management. All these themes play a significant role in ensuring that the healthcare sector is well prepared for any emergency as each theme has a role to play in emergency situations.

Human resource management theme is used in minimizing the damage and the suffering caused by the disaster. It is essential to ensure that human resource is mobilized to respond to the catastrophe maximally. Physical resource management responds to emergencies from natural disasters which may lead to the destruction of the health care system. Victim’s management transfer deals with the casualties. This theme also deals with implementation of casualty’s triage. Environmental health deals with the removal of the contaminants to keep people safe from injuries or infections. Nutrition management ensures that the victims are well nourished. In cases of disasters like famine and floods, this theme ensures that the vulnerable groups are given supplements and nutrients that will keep them healthy. Mental health is important since it offers psychological support to the victims until there is a return of balance psychologically. Inter-organizational coordination ensures that the healthcare can identify rescuers. This ensures that the victims are protected from any other harm such as theft. Training helps in ensuring that the management of disaster in public health is successful. Modern technologies such as the installation of a telemedicine system are crucial in the treatment of the casualties. Information and communication management should be coordinated effectively to ensure that the report published is not conflicting. Budget management is the responsibility of the healthcare organization as they should ensure that there is a continuous supply of resources required during emergencies.

The health sector is in need of making potential relationships with other sectors. Establishment of good relations before the occurrence of disasters means that the response stage will not be challenging. Therefore, the response will be fast, timely and useful. The information that is extracted from experiences and knowledge from disaster managers creates a foundation for operational planning of the services in healthcare during the occurrence of disasters. The most important this is the use of the all-hazards approach in public health and emergency preparedness.

Lee, A., Phillips, W., Challen, K., & Goodacre, S. (2012). Emergency management in health: key issues and challenges in the UK.BMC Public Health, 884.

Moore, S., Mawji, A., Shiell, A., & Noseworthy, T. (2007). Public Health Preparedness: a systems-level approach. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 61(4), 284.

Pourhosseini, S. S., Ardalan, A., & Mehrolhassani, M. H. (2012). Key Aspects of Providing Healthcare Services in Disaster Response Stage. Iranian Journal of Public Health, 44(1).

Post two:

Emergency medical services (EMS) is a critical component of the nation’s emergency and trauma care system. It is important to understand the interplay between medicine and public health is critical to addressing the health needs of Americans. There is a strong connection between emergency medical care and public health services. It is this connection that allows the system to get rid of its vulnerabilities. The connection between trauma centers and public health systems is quite strong. Each citizen of America holds the view that they will receive a good care in case of emergency. However the unfortunate reality is that while the demands on emergency and trauma care have grown dramatically, the capacity of the system has not kept pace. Balancing these roles in the face of increasing patient volume and limited resources has become increasingly challenging. The situation is creating a widening gap between the quality of emergency care Americans expect and the quality they actually receive.

If worked out well and the connection becomes strong, the public health workers can serve beside the emergency managers. Together they can find out the factors that cause trauma and eventually they can all make efforts to overcome the threats, emerging diseases and medical disparities. The common theme across these journal articles is that there is a significant connection between public health and emergency medical systems. A balanced structure of the two can allow dealing with increasing incidents in the community. But if the balance stumbles, there is a possibility of notable decline in medical services for entire community.

Dunford Jr, J. V. (2006). EMS and Public Health. Principles of EMS Systems, 268.

Trzeciak, S., & Rivers, E. P. (2003). Emergency department overcrowding in the United States: an emerging threat to patient safety and public health. Emergency medicine journal, 20(5), 402-405.

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