191414 ADEPT - Automated Disaster and Emergency Planning Tool: Innovative use of a relational database to facilitate public health emergency operations planning

Monday, October 27, 2008: 2:30 PM

Anthony J. Santarsiero, MBA, FACHE , CCEHIP/NCEH/ATSDR/OD/Office of Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response (OTPER), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Chamblee, GA
Mark Keim, MD , Office of Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response (OTPER), US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Chamblee, GA
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has developed

ADEPT, a standardized public health planning process and methodology to help address this need. This capabilities/objectives-based planning process and methodology has been used to develop public health and hospital emergency operations plans in multiple nations/countries in the Pacific, Caribbean, Southeast Asia, as well as the United States. This capabilities/objectives-based planning process and methodology is an innovative, software-based process for writing public health emergency operations plans. This process and methodology 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 and methodology integrates all-hazards planning for emergencies that may involve a wide range of hazards: natural, technological, infectious disease, including pandemic influenza, and terrorism. This process and methodology 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) and National Response Framework (NRF), Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI), and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Target Capabilities Lists (TCLs). This process and methodology then guides the user in assigning tasks and performance indicators and developing standard operating procedures for each disaster function. Emergency operations plans created using this process and methodology 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. This process and methodology can be used on a laptop or desktop computer. This process and methodology is designed for national health agency 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:

This capabilities/objectives-based planning process and

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

Recommendation:

Public health emergency planners should consider utilizing

this process and methodology to assist development and maintenance of their own customized emergency operations plans for prevention and control of public health emergency events.

Learning Objectives:
The purpose of this presentation is to provide public health professionals with an overview of capabilities/objectives-based planning for public health organizations to facilitate development and maintenance of evidence-based emergency operations plans more effectively and efficiently for prevention and control of public health emergency events.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: Anthony J. (Tony) Santarsiero is currently under contract with the McKing Consulting Corporation as the senior advisor/consultant to the Office of Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response (OTPER) in the Office of the Director (OD), National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH)/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In his current position, he serves as an advisor and consultant to the senior management team, in addition to the programmatic areas of environmental health terrorism preparedness and emergency response, capabilities based planning and technical assistance, pandemic influenza capabilities based planning and technical assistance, and public health system partnerships development. Tony retired from the CDC on January 3, 2007, after 35 years of Federal service. In his previous position from which he retired, he served as the CDC public health partnership manager and project officer for CDC’s and ATSDR’s national public health systems partnership organizations, including the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL), Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE), National Association of Local Boards of Health (NALBOH), Public Health Foundation (PHF), American Public Health Association (APHA), National Network of Public Health Institutes (NNPHI), and Partnership for Prevention (PfP). In this capacity, he served as a program consultant and advocate for advising on the planning, development, and execution of core public health infrastructure activities and special projects related to strengthening the capacity of the public health system and promoting the public health roles of assessment, policy development, and assurance to build and strengthen public health infrastructure. Tony is also retired from the United States Air Force Medical Service Corps as a Hospital and Health Services Administrator in the rank of Colonel, and is a graduate of the Air War College. One of the highlights during his career was the mobilization of over 2,500 medical service personnel in support of Operations Desert Shield/Storm in 1990 and 1991. Tony has a BBA degree in finance from The University of Georgia and a MBA degree from Florida Technological University. He is also a Recertified Life Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives; a graduate of the National Public Health Leadership Institute at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in which his team was recognized with the Tom Balderson Award for Outstanding Team Leadership; and has been presented the President’s Award from NALBOH.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

See more of: Objectives Based Planning for Public Health
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