If you have not had the opportunity, or found the time, to read through the Next Challenge in Healthcare Preparedness: Catastrophic Health Events (Preparedness Report) you need to put it on your immediate "to do" list. The report outlines some major challenges faced by the healthcare infrastructure in meeting future challenges (in what is already an often over capacity system of hospitals and clinics).

The report will serve as a working blueprint for clinical emergency management and the changes (and challenges) that will need to take place.

"A key finding of the Evaluation Report was that, while much progress has been made in healthcare preparedness for common medical disasters, the U.S. healthcare system is ill-prepared for catastrophic health events (CHE), and there is as yet no clear strategy that will enable an effective response to such an event. For this report, the definition of "catastrophic health event" is that put forth in Homeland Security Presidential Directive 21 (HSPD-21): an event that could result in tens or hundreds of thousands of sick or injured individuals who would require access to healthcare resources" (UPMC, 2010)

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Stay Safe - dp