CDC Automated Disaster and Emergency Planning Tool (ADEPT)

Overview: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has developed a standardized public health and medical planning process and software called the Automated Disaster and Emergency Planning Tool (ADEPT) to help address this need. This software will soon be available free of charge. ADEPT has been used to develop 18 public health and hospital emergency operations plans in 8 nations in the Pacific, Caribbean, as well as the United States. ADEPT is an innovative, software-based process for writing public health and medical emergency operations and disaster plans. ADEPT applies evidence-based objectives to the process of disaster planning so that subsequent responses can be measured for effectiveness and validated according to the emergency operations plan itself. This process integrates all-hazard planning for emergencies that may involve a wide range of hazards: natural, technological, infectious disease, and terrorism. ADEPT utilizes the internationally accepted SPHERE standards (www.sphere.org) for disaster response as well as nationally accepted models like the National Incident Management System (NIMS), Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI), and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Target Capabilities Lists (TCLs). The tool then guides the user in assigning tasks and performance indicators and developing standard operating procedures for each disaster function. Emergency Operations Plans created using ADEPT will give the field user an instrument that is integrated into a multi-organizational response; define duties and job descriptions for key response staff, and provide a platform for prioritized rapid decision making in the initial phase of an emergency operation. ADEPT can be used on a laptop or PC computer. ADEPT is designed for national health agencies and hospital applications and has broader applications in both the domestic and foreign setting to include complex emergencies, comprehensive national response planning, and response to pandemic influenza.

Conclusion: ADEPT has proven to be a useful tool and process for assisting public health and hospital emergency planners in numerous nations to develop evidence-based emergency operations plans more effectively and efficiently. ADEPT has been applied successfully in several cultures.

Recommendation: Public health and hospital emergency planners should consider utilizing ADEPT to assist development and maintenance of their own customized emergency operations plans for prevention and control of public health emergency events.