Using learning management system data and GIS to plan public health disaster preparedness training in Connecticut

Background: TRAINConnecticut is a web-based learning management system for Connecticut public health workers and their practice partners that allows users to access and document training.

Purpose: To identify strengths and challenges of using TRAINConnecticut and GIS to plan emergency preparedness training.

Methods: TRAINConnecticut data were used to create tables of the number of registrations and sessions per course by year, topic, trainee professional background and location. ARC GIS was used to map participation in individual courses by town/region and the location of training sites.

Results: There were over 42,000 registrations from 2003 to 2008. The tabular presentation of data was particularly useful for identifying training gaps by topic. Mapping was useful for visualizing regional training gaps. Geocoding training sites highlighted the effect that location had on participation. Mapping challenges included ensuring that shapefiles were coterminous with preparedness planning regions and choosing an appropriate denominator to compare areas of different size. Overall challenges included incomplete/misspelled registration data that hindered grouping by organization, profession and location. Course topics, as defined by TRAINConnecticut, mapped imperfectly to DHS target capabilities, limiting the usefulness of the data for disaster planning. Finally, the data provided an incomplete picture since some Federal, State and local preparedness courses were not listed on TRAINConnecticut.

Discussion: TRAINConnecticut is a rich source of information on disaster preparedness training. Most challenges can be addressed in the analysis. However, usefulness could be improved by ensuring that course topics correspond to the target capabilities and that preparedness training sessions are listed on TRAINConnecticut.