Provider and health care system response to a bioterrorist attack.

Responding to Bioterrorist Smallpox in San Antonio

We used discrete-event simulation to help the San Antonio public health and acute medical care communities to plan their response to a bioterrorist attack. The analysis, based on a scenario positing an attack with aerosolized smallpox, indicated the resources and strategies needed for an effective response. We found that a mixture of public-health measures designed to stop the spread of the dis...

Simulating the Response of a Rural Acute Health-care Delivery System to a Bioterrorist Attack

Objectives: This paper demonstrates the applicability of discrete event simulation to planning the response of a rural acute health-care delivery system to a bioterrorist attack. Simulation results are used to develop observations and recommendations for planning for bioterrorism events in rural settings. Method: The analysis employed two discrete event simulation models, one representing the s...

On the front lines: family physicians' preparedness for bioterrorism.

OBJECTIVE The events of September 11, 2001, and the nation's recent experience with anthrax assaults made bioterrorism preparedness a national priority. Because primary care physicians are among the sentinel responders to bioterrorist attacks, we sought to determine family physicians' beliefs about their preparedness for such an attack. STUDY DESIGN In October 2001 we conducted a national sur...

The challenge of hospital infection control during a response to bioterrorist attacks.

THE PURPOSE OF THIS PAPER is to provide a concise overview of infection control practices and their implications for health care delivery for persons with responsibility for biodefense planning, program management, or policy development. Infection control practices, here defined as methods to prevent person-to-person transmission of contagious disease in health care settings, would be an integr...

Provider Governance; A Basic Blackbox Seldom Looked at Properly: A Response to Recent Commentaries