New Initiative Will Improve Bioterrorism Preparedness of Health Workforce

3/22/2004

From: Denise E. Holmes of the Association of Academic Health Centers, 202-265-9600

WASHINGTON, March 22 -- Congress has asked the nation's bioterrorism experts to target new mechanisms to increase the level of preparedness for the health workforce. Vaccines, drugs, diagnostic devices and medical surveillance are all crucial tools in the fight against bioterrorism and emerging infectious disease, but experts say these are not enough. Until now, preparedness efforts have focused primarily on material solutions such as protective gear and information analysis; there has been much less emphasis on training the health workforce who will use this equipment.

Now the Association of Academic Health Centers (AHC) will collaborate with Michael Hopmeier, a counterterrorism expert, to operate the Healthcare Incentivization Working Group (HIWG), which will work with academic health centers and public health systems to defray the tremendous costs of preparedness training for the workforce. The AHC will assume leadership for the HIWG, which Hopmeier will chair and which will reconvene soon. Hopmeier said, "Our goal is to identify opportunities to assist our delivery system in preparing for disasters and responding to homeland security issues. In the final analysis, well trained, highly motivated people are irreplaceable." Roger J. Bulger, MD, president of the AHC, explained the importance of collaborative work by his 100-plus member institutions, "For too many academic health centers, biodefense activities constitute an unfunded mandate."

Former AHC board chair Gregory L. Eastwood, MD, president of SUNY Upstate Medical University and chair of the AHC's Council on Biodefense noted, "The council helps members to share best practices so that others may replicate successful education, research, and planning efforts. The HIWG will expand that pool of participating institutions."

The HIWG is working with Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) on the BioShield legislation to help bridge gaps in our nation's preparedness. "We are deficient in addressing the personnel preparedness in academic health centers and other institutions. Who will administer the drugs, interpret the sensors, take care of patients, and educate the public? People will: doctors, nurses, public health professionals, pharmacists and EMTs," said Chuck Ludlam, counsel to Senator Lieberman.

Joining HIWG in this effort is the National Center for Emergency Preparedness, housed at Nashville's Vanderbilt University Medical Center, an AHC member institution. "Hospitals and other institutions need to participate in planning and exercise activities so that their people and the community as a whole understand and can carry out those plans. Academic health centers represent an incredibly flexible and robust resource in every state, so identifying financial incentives for these institutions is critically important," said Colleen Conway-Welch, Ph.D., Dean of the Vanderbilt School of Nursing and Director of the International Nursing Coalition for Mass Casualty Education. Conway-Welch serves on the federal Council on Public Health Preparedness.

The Association of Academic Health Centers is a national, non- profit organization dedicated to improving the health of the people by advancing the leadership of academic health centers in health professions education, biomedical and health services research, and health care delivery.