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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Amanda J. Durante, PhD, MSc¹, Linda Degutis, DrPH, MSN¹, Richard Melchreit, MD², Kristin Sullivan, MA³, and Monica Rak, RN, BSN². (1) Yale Center for Public Health Preparedness, Yale University, 2 Church Street South, Suite 314, New Haven, CT 06519, 203 764 9720, amanda.durante@yale.edu, (2) Infectious Diseases Section, Connecticut Department of Public Health, 410-474 Capitol Avenue, Hartford, CT 06134, (3) Workforce and Professional Development Section, Connecticut Department of Public Health, 410-474 Capitol Avenue, Hartford, CT 06134

Development: The US Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) is an inventory of medications and medical supplies that is available in the event of a large public health emergency. The State of Connecticut (CT) is undertaking a full-scale exercise of SNS deployment and distribution in April 2006 in collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Evaluation will be an integral part of this exercise. Evaluators will observe and record the actions/decisions of players. Public health students are a potential source of volunteer evaluators. Student recruitment should serve two beneficial purposes. First, a large number of evaluators will be needed and students can help to fill a gap in resources. Second, the experience should provide students with exposure to adult learning management resources and the implementation of disaster drills. However, conflicts with academic commitments may pose a challenge when recruiting student evaluators. Implementation: The Yale Center for Public Health Preparedness is working with the CT Department of Public Health to recruit CT public health and nursing students as volunteer evaluators. Students who wish to participate will be required to register on the TRAINConnecticut online learning management system and to complete an SNS awareness training distance-learning self-study course. Students will also receive face-to-face training. Methods that will be used to recruit students will include flyers, email communications and in-class announcements. Evaluation: The success of the program will be assessed based on its ability to provide student evaluators and to engage students in preparedness training.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant in this session should be able to

• Describe the role of an evaluator of a public health preparedness exercise.
• List benefits and challenges of recruiting public health students as evaluators of public health preparedness exercises.

Keywords: Bioterrorism, Health Workers Training

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation