This text covers disaster preparedness for health care facilities such as hospitals and long-term care homes. It covers how to assess the risk to and readiness of a health care facility for potential disasters and how to deal with any deficiencies found.

As the biomedical engineering field expands throughout the world, clinical engineers play an ever more important role as the translator between the worlds of the medical, engineering, and business professionals. They influence procedure and policy at research facilities, universities and private and government agencies including the Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization. Clinical engineers were key players in calming the hysteria over electrical safety in the 1970s and Y2K at the turn of the century and continue to work for medical safety. This title brings together all the important aspects of Clinical Engineering. It provides the reader with prospects for the future of clinical engineering as well as guidelines and standards for best practice around the world.

Health Policy & Management

Read a fascinating interview with editor Tener Goodwin Veenema! Tener Veenema Interview Disaster planning and emergency preparedness have never been more critical to the nurses who serve as our front-line response. Today's pandemic threats of global terrorism, disease, and natural disasters make this comprehensive handbook of best practices a necessity--meeting the need for a nursing workforce that is adequately prepared to respond to any disaster or public health emergency. In addition to a thorough update based on the most recent recommendations, this second edition contains six new chapters: Emergency Health Services (EMS and other first responders) Burn Assessment and Management Explosive & Traumatic Terrorism Caring for High-Risk, High-Vulnerability Patients Emerging Infectious Disease (avian and other flu pandemics) Chemical Decontamination All content reflects the guidelines provided in the Federal Disaster Response Plan and the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and therapeutic recommendations from the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Disaster Nursing will prepare any nurse or EMS team to provide health care under a variety of disaster conditions.

This comprehensive textbook is designed to prepare any nurse to provide health care under disaster conditions. The content ranges from general principles of disaster preparation and management to management of specific types of disasters. Natural and environmental disasters are amply discussed. However, the special emphasis of the book is response to disasters caused by biological, chemical, and radiological agents. Vital information on post-disaster restoration of basic public health, psychological effects, and establishing communication is provided. Each chapter is prefaced with "Key Messages" and "Learning Objectives," and followed by "Study Questions" and "Internet Activities." Numerous case studies bring the reader into contact with professionals from organizations crucial to the U.S. disaster response. The Appendix includes an extensive listing of Internet resources.

According to the Center for Research and Epidemiology of Disasters, the frequency and severity of disasters has increased over 300% in the last decade. Healthcare systems and individual healthcare practitioners, including nurses, are now fulfilling multiple roles in disaster preparedness in the whole of community: planning, preparedness, risk identification, mitigation, response and recovery. Nurses are considered first responders for biological events or when the disaster occurs where they are working. Nurses act as first receivers when accepting patients/victims for care whose injuries result from non-biological events occurring outside the nurse’s workplace. The vast majority of practicing nurses received no disaster preparedness education in their basic nursing education program. Nurses graduating in the 21st century are exposed to some of the concepts of disaster nursing but have little experience unless there is a disaster or emergency where they work or go to school. Readers will be updated on this topic because articles in this edition demonstrate a vast array of implications for nurses in disaster preparedness around the world: chemical, biological, radiological/nuclear, explosives (CBRNE); natural disasters; new models of training and educating nurses for disasters, military nurse response, mental health issues as well as non-government organizations.

Print+CourseSmart

The Distributed Functions of Emergency Management and Homeland Security outlines the roles and responsibilities of various individuals and agencies involved in homeland security and all aspects of emergency management. Each chapter focuses on the practical and applied aspects of a range of public servants in various departments and the organizations that they represent. Rather than presenting a theoretical exploration alone, the book examines the practical knowledge and hands-on skills related to various functions and how their decisions and actions play into the larger framework of safety and security —in the public, private and nonprofit sectors. Every professional has a unique and integral part to play in fulfilling their roles and obligations, whether it be in relation to prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response or recovery operations. Personnel that frequently come to mind in such scenarios include emergency managers, geographers and land-use planners, EMTs and paramedics, fire fighters, police officers, public health officials, nurses, public administrators, and public information officers. And while these individuals are integral to homeland security and emergency management, there are other professionals that also perform essential duties that—while they aren’t first-to-mind—are vital to efforts relating to terrorism and disasters; this includes pilots in the aviation sector, the military, attorneys, psychologists, and forensic professionals serving in pathology, DNA, and dentistry roles. Chapters provide a holistic rendering of the homeland security and emergency management landscape to present all these various professional capabilities and contributions. This includes how current functions are coordinated as well as how future efforts might change relative to a more proactive, all-hazards and holistic approach. As such, the book will be a useful resource for students and practitioners to understand the dynamic professions—and various disciplines and fields—that impact disaster and terrorism preparedness and response capabilities.