Technology Influencing Public Health

Beginning in the early 1990’s, a series of governmental actions against biological warfare and bioterrorism were instituted, including the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control Act, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, the Defense Against Weapons of Mass Destruction Act, and the Defense Authorization Act. These acts were meant to either dissuade bioterrorists or boost the government’s power in defensive biological warfare research (Lanthrop). In April of 2000, the CDC published a guide, Biological and Chemical Terrorism: Strategic Plan for Preparedness and Response, which covered “planning, detection and surveillance, laboratory analysis, emergency response, and communications” (“CDC”). The APIC and CDC have co-written a guide for hospitals who come into contact with biological agents to follow (“CDC”). To sum up these guidebooks, it is important to look out for the following incidences: an irregular rapid increase in disease occurrences, an epidemic curve, an unusual pattern or time for a disease to thrive, clusters of patients from the same area, large numbers of fatal cases, simultaneous reports of animal deaths (Lanthrop).

CDC partners with the Center for Global Health, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and the Office of the Director. This combination is referred to as the Center Institute and Office (CIO). Under the direction of the CIO, the organization is now able to be more alert and effective regarding health matters. Additionally, there are five affiliated offices which are connectedto the CIO; these are the Public Health Preparedness and Response, State and Local Support, Surveillance, Epidemiology and Laboratory Services, Noncommunicable Diseases, Injury and Environmental Health, and Infectious Diseases. The sub-set offices are able to perform CDC’s emergency procedures in accord to their range of proficiency offering intra-agency reinforcement and reserve distribution based on concerns and health threats(Center for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], n.d.).

During an epidemic I would anticipate the local health system would be taxed in order to respond to the number of cases impacted by the outbreak. Utilization of the current health care settings, whether it be primary physician offices, Urgent Care or the Emergency Department the ability to triage, staff and provide supplies for these facilities would be challenging. Additional facilities may be incorporated into the reporting system in order to function as overflow from these clinic sites

The first article I reviewed outlined the history of the EHR and discussed the possible future directions of the EHR while the second article measured the successes of the CPOE and new avenues for hospitals with the CPOE.

The Bioterrorisk simulation, which is developed by the Illinois Public Health Prepared-ness Center, is a case based mini course. The bioterrorism events of 9/11 and Anthrax epidemic in the United States have alarmed the nation’s capability to respond to the bioterrorism attacks. The Public Health role in bioterrorism preparedness and response is to plan and organize the medical and public health first response personnel to identify and investigate any disease outbreaks by using the surveillance systems, laboratory services and using the similar disease epidemic data available in

Communication is essential between health care facilities and the CDC. For example, the facilities experience an emergency and follow certain quarantine protocols and alert the local public health department and the CDC. The CDC organizes secure transmission tactics to merge and notify public health officials at local, state, and federal levels. The institute deploys scientific and logistical proficiency, personnel, and vital medical resources to the area of the emergency. The CDC (2012) explains the implementation of the essential medical assets for protection of communities in the state of an emergency:

When the pandemic broke, Dr. Cheever committed to several questionable decisions or courses of action that had or could have had negative impacts on the public health. One of these was when he dispatched Dr. Erin Mears from the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Services (EIS) to investigate on the recent outbreak in Minnesota. The EIS, also referred to as the CDC’s Disease Detectives, serves as the first line of defense and investigation of the agency. It is actually a 2-year training program on applied epidemiology, undertaken by 70 to 80 selected physicians, doctoral-level scientists, veterinarians, and other health professionals (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). EIS Officers are the ones who should be ready to respond in case of outbreak, as Dr. Mears did. EIS Officers have the responsibility of identifying causes of outbreaks, recommending preventive and control measures against them, and implementing strategies to protect

The emergency events caused by infectious disease, natural or anthropogenic causes with the potential to overwhelm or otherwise disrupt routine local capacities due to their timing, scale or unpredictability should be communicated properly and routinely which requires rapid knowledge transfer and uptake (Khan et al., 2017, p. 2).

These individuals are trained to respond to outbreaks and other disasters and their response is to find out why people are getting sick, how they can prevent the disease from spreading and importantly, how to save lives and protect people. These officers are like detectives and use investigation measures to look for clues on how an outbreak happens. They look for germs, viruses, and bacteria or other types of samples in locations when an outbreak is occurring. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also uses their network to alert the health care community of recognizing and assessing an outbreak so that they can distinguish it on patient level care and a first contact basis. The CDC also works mutually with State health departments, local academic, government and private sectors to establish Emerging Infections Programs and other sites. Depending on the severity of the outbreak the CDC also collaborates with the World Health organization in case infected individuals have traveled to other parts of the world (Public Health Emergency Response: The CDC Role,

Physicians in 1877 were required to report contagious diseases and the city of Chicago began collecting data on its resident’s recording vital statistics and deaths. Over 100 years later as technology progressed, the IDHP used technology in the form of genetic testing of E-Coli samples linked to an outbreak of food poisoning to trace the origin of the disease. Currently, computer technology, aided by the Internet has birthed an enormous amount of data that can help the IDHP and health educators focus on the needs of their city. Data collected by the IDHP provides the footing for developing and implementing public health policies and strategies for disease prevention and promotion. Thru data, a program’s success can be monitored and a communities needs

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more commonly known as the CDC, is a major governmental department serving the country in healthcare. Per their official mission statement, The CDC “serves as the national focus for developing and applying disease prevention and control, environmental health, and health promotion and health education activities designed to improve the health of the people of the United States” (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Most citizens may think of the CDC in situations not unlike the Ebola or Zika outbreaks, or even in the outlandish ideas of a virus bringing people back from the dead. These Centers across the United States survey disease outbreak,

It is important to have systems that are constructed similarly and able to communicate with each other. Syndromic surveillance has been accepted as a way to monitor disease outbreaks and bioterrorism attacks (Chen et al., 2010). According to Henning (2004), “Syndromic surveillance systems seek to use existing health data in real time to provide immediate analysis and feedback to those charged with investigation and follow-up of potential outbreaks.” Additionally, “The fundamental objective of syndromic surveillance is to identify illness clusters early, before diagnoses are confirmed and reported to public health agencies, and to mobilize a rapid response, thereby reducing morbidity and mortality” (Henning, 2004). Evaluation of the success of this type of surveillance can be monitored based on the data reported to and archived by the

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had many key audiences it was required to communicate with during the Ebola outbreak. Most importantly, the CDC needed to be communicating with employees within the CDC. They needed to be on the same page as to how messages were being released and controlled, as this was a very sensitive subject. Furthermore, it was imperative that heath care providers around the world were receiving appropriate information. U.S. government agencies, the World Health Organization (WHO) and local and regional public health officials (Dallas County Department of Health and Human Services and the Texas Department of Health and Human Services (DSHS)) were also key audiences. More specifically, the nurses

The NNDSS is a national program that provides provisional information on the occurrence of notifiable diseases and acts as a surveillance system. The primary data source for the NNDSS is the National Electronic Disease Surveillance System (NEDSS), a secure online platform that facilitates communication between healthcare professionals and federal agencies on disease patterns. Surveillance data is obtained through reports at the local, state, and territorial public health departments, where it is mandated for all healthcare providers, hospitals, and laboratories to report specific infections. NEDSS implements national consensus standards to improve public health investigation workflow and sharing of disease-related health information (CDC, 2017d). Data is analyzed to monitor trends, published and shared through the

Today there are many technologies that have provided change in our social environments. For example, we have access to laptop/computers, the Internet, cell phones, and android pads. This is beneficial because we can use the Internet to obtain information almost instantly to assist in research and education as well as staying in communication with friends and family. I believe that every household should have access to these technologies but due to socioeconomic conditions that is not possible. I feel that the technology today has evolved from landline telephones and going to the library to being able to make calls anytime from anywhere and find information at the touch of our fingertips. The