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• The Program's objective is to enhance the knowledge and skills of health care professionals to meet the public health preparedness and emergency response demands resulting from acts of bioterrorism and other incidents.

Our program mission

Program Summary

 A new Idaho program is under way to help the health care workforce prepare to address the consequences of a bioterrorism attack, a large-scale natural disaster, or infectious disease outbreak. There is a compelling need to have hospitals, emergency response personnel, and local health care officials trained to recognize a terrorist activity and to swiftly respond in a coordinated manner. Idaho State University Institute of Rural Health has received a three year $3.8 million grant, wholly funded by the the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR), Healthcare Systems Bureau (HSB), Division of Healthcare Preparedness (DHP), Emergency Training Branch to provide bioterrorism and emergency preparedness training to health care providers statewide. An Idaho advisory committee will be created to guide the content of training, outreach to health care providers and other issues associated with the grant.

Purpose of the Program

The program’s objective is to enhance the knowledge and skills of health care professionals to meet the public health preparedness and emergency response demands resulting from acts of bioterrorism and other incidents. Training will assist and facilitate understanding of the needs and response measures as they relate to the following: Recognizing indicators of terrorist events; Meeting the acute health care needs of patients and victims, including pediatric or other vulnerable populations, including those with mental health needs; Participating in coordinated, multidisciplinary response to terror events or other health emergencies; and Rapidly and effectively alerting the public health system of such an event at the community, state or federal levels.

Need

The program seeks to train 80% of Idaho’s health care workforce. Based on estimates of the Public Health Preparedness program in 2004, approximately 33,000 healthcare professionals should be trained by the end of the grant in 2008.

Activities

Delivery of trainings will be in person and via various distance learning technologies in order to reach the state’s dominantly rural and remote health care systems. Distance delivery will include on line classes, virtual tabletop exercises and drill, simulators (that can facilitate learning for trainees to gain experience in treating simulated patients in a disaster), live-event webcasting (interactive and non interactive), webcasts (on-demand, archived), satellite broadcasts, Virtual Grand Rounds, workshops, seminars, audio conferences, CD-ROMs and DVDs. Wherever possible, existing resources and/or off-the-shelf products will be used to deliver both scholarly content and the technology tools. The curricula will include the incident command system, surveillance systems, the national health alert networks, consequence and disaster management skills, awareness and preparedness for first responders, and various bioterrorism-related clinical competencies.

Advisory Board

The high-level advisory board will recommend the selection of courses, delivery mechanisms and outreach to health care provider groups, and advise how to assess the effectiveness of providing the preparedness training to the health care workforce in Idaho.