Public Health, Emergency Response, and Medical PreparednessIII: Communication Infrastructure

Abstract

AbstractDeveloping and maintaining a robust communication infrastructure among hospitals, emergency medical services, and other health‐care facilities, as well as private medical transport companies and medical supplies vendors, is vital to providing relief operations and services during emergency situations. Such infrastructure provides the core foundation for basic knowledge‐sharing such as patient volume and severity, emergency room capacity, hospital bed availability; special wards availability; medical personnel specialties; transport vehicle availability; and blood, medicine, and medical supplies inventories. During an emergency situation, such critical information can be communicated to a regional coordinating control center, which can assess available resources, identify surpluses and shortages, and coordinate distribution efforts. In fact, building capacity for an interoperable communication system for emergency response is identified as one of the areas that must be prioritized according to The Hospital Preparedness Program established by the US Department of Health and Human Services. In this article, we highlight some important issues related to an effective communication infrastructure. Various communication tools and infrastructure will be contrasted. Organizational and sociological factors as well as human behavior are discussed. Beyond communicating horizontally and vertically across the jurisdictions and federal, state, and local government agencies, we also highlight the importance of multimedia public information and risk communication factors that are essential for mounting an effective emergency response.