A number of Brazilian municipalities have been affected by disasters in recent years. Municipal managers need to invest in preparedness to mitigate the impact of events and to restrict damages. Disaster preparedness should be conducted on various fronts, including the health sector, of which pharmaceutical services (PS) are a part. The scope of this paper is to describe and analyze PS preparedn...

THE INCAPACITATING BLOWS dealt to the New Orleans, Louisiana, health care infrastructure by Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath are unprecedented in the United States. Much can be learned about disaster preparedness from the events that unfolded in New Orleans after Katrina swept the Gulf shoreline. Problem areas in the management of this disaster such as internal and external communication fai...

This paper discusses the design and prototypical implementation of virtual patients to train paramedics in disaster operations. These virtual patients are presented on a multi-touch table top. The current approach focuses on disaster triage according to the mSTaRT triage algorithm. In order to enhance disaster preparedness continuous training of all paramedics is indispensable. Due to the fact ...