Program Prepares State Hospitals for Public Health Emergencies

(July 19, 2006) -- The University of Minnesota School of Nursing and School of Public Health are holding a one-day workshop to teach regional hospital first-receivers how to care for patients during public health and bio-terrorism emergencies.

Minnesota Emergency Readiness Education and Training (MERET) will be held Wednesday, July 26, 2006, at the Virginia Regional Medical Center, 901 9th St. N., Virginia, Minn., McMillan Auditorium B and C, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Using realistic injury simulation, known as moulage, participants will learn how to use personal protective equipment and best practices for the care and decontamination of patients in an event of mass casualties. They will conduct and evaluate emergency drills and mock disasters and discuss topics such as the psychosocial and emotional needs of emergency health care workers, team safety, and patient triage and decontamination with experts from the University of Minnesota and the BORDERS Alert and Ready program at the University of North Dakota.

Participation is limited to hospital personnel who will serve on the hospital decontamination team, including physicians, nurses, and infection control and facility personnel.

¿The goal of the project is to reduce disease and injury by involving the public health system early and making sure the various health care providers and government units coordinate their efforts,¿ said Carol O¿Boyle, Ph.D., R.N., the program¿s director and assistant professor at the University¿s School of Nursing.

This specific workshop will be tailored to the needs of the northeast community, taking into consideration population, weather, transportation, and health care access issues.

¿It will focus on building on what this community already has in place in terms of emergency preparedness,¿ said O¿Boyle. ¿It allows us to determine what else the community needs to do and what help it may need doing it.¿

In the next three years, MERET will train nearly 10,000 Minnesota nurses, physicians, pharmacists, psychologists, social workers, veterinarians, health care administrators, and others who work at hospitals, clinics, long-term care, and other health care facilities who may find themselves on the front lines during a health emergency or bioterrorism event.

MERET is supported by a $2.7 million federal grant from the Department of Health Resources and Services Administration, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Bioterrorism Training and Curriculum Development Program.

Project activities will be planned and implemented in cooperation with the State of Minnesota Office of Emergency Preparedness and the Minnesota Senior Advisory Committee, which is co-chaired by the Minnesota Commissioners of Health and Public Safety, the Minnesota Department of Health and Human Services, and the Minnesota Area Health Education Center.

For more information, please visit www.sph.umn.edu/cpheo/meret.