School to help Minnesota Prepare for Pandemic

Seminars to address ethics and resources in a health emergency

If pandemic flu struck in Minnesota, would health care workers be prepared to work in circumstances more challenging than any they have ever experienced? Would they know how hospitals operate during a disaster, understand the chain of command, including their own role, or know what support they would receive from local, state, and federal governments? Would they have a basis for making ethical decisions about who receives scarce resources like ventilators, or medications like antivirals, antibiotics, and vaccines?

These and related complex issues will be the subject of an Emergency Readiness Rounds for health professionals offered at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus and via web cast. The session will be held Wednesday, June 28. An earlier session was held May 9.

The seminars are sponsored by Minnesota Emergency Readiness Education and Training (MERET), a program of the University of Minnesota¿s School of Nursing and School of Public Health Centers for Public Health Education and Outreach. Funding comes from the Health Resources and Services Administration at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The $2.7 million federal grant establishing the MERET program, awarded to the Schools of Nursing and Public Health, is aimed at educating and training health care workers in emergency preparedness. The project tailors planning efforts to the needs of specific Minnesota communities as they prepare for a public health emergency or bioterrorism event. The goal is to reduce disease and injury by involving the public health system early in an emergency and by ensuring the various health care providers and government units coordinate their efforts. The project, collaborating with the Minnesota Department of Health and other organizations from across the state, will train nearly 10,000 Minnesota health workers over the next three years, using workshops, speakers, web casts, and CD-ROMs.

Carol O¿Boyle, Ph.D., R.N., School of Nursing, is the MERET project director; Debra Olson, M.P.H., R.N., School of Public Health Centers for Public Health Education and Outreach, will lead training and curriculum development.

The sessions, available for continuing education credits, are intended for physicians, pharmacists, nurses, social workers, physician¿s assistants, health care administrators, and advanced nurse practitioners. They are free, but space is limited for both in-person and Web cast sessions, and registration is required for both. Register at http://ustar.ahc.umn.edu/register_event.cfm.

Planners encourage Web cast participants to gather at their workplaces for discussion after the one-hour session. The Web cast will be available online for later viewing. For more information about the sessions and MERET, visit www.meret.umn.edu.