TRAINING OF HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS FOR DISASTER AND TERRORISM RESPONSE

Events such as the World Trade Center attacks, Hurricane Katrina, and the Sumatra Earthquake-Tsunami demonstrate the complex consequences of both human-caused and natural disasters. Responding to such events requires an understanding of the physical processes, health and societal issues, and flexibility. Developing a community of professionals who are trained to respond to these disasters is needed, but few models exist to serve as templates for training programs. Penn State University has recently developed and implemented a graduate level degree program (Masters of Homeland Security in Health Preparedness and certificate programs in both Disaster Readiness and Bioterrorism Preparedness) to provide an integrated framework for health professionals. The Penn State program is offered through its World Campus (on-line learning) and allows health professionals globally to participate. The current cohort of students include health professionals from state and regional governments, federal departments of Homeland Security and the Public Health Service, and members of several branches of the US military. An underlying principle of the program is the recognition that natural, human induced, and terrorism driven disasters have common consequences and will rely on the same teams of professionals for response. The curriculum is designed with this in mind with core and required courses in health preparedness related to hazards and terrorism, natural disasters, politics of disasters, the psychology of disasters, and issues related to infrastructure vulnerability. Natural disasters and the earth science issues involved play a central role in the program with a core course, built on an existing on-campus geosciences course, focused on case studies of recent and current natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, and floods. In the spirit of training professional to respond to disasters as they develop, the course uses ‘real-time' data and requires that students assess and react to events, make choices on how to proceed, and do post-mortem analyses of the both their responses and the outcomes. The goal of the program is to develop a community of health care workers who understand the underlying causes of disasters, appreciate the interconnections and feedbacks operating, and are prepared to respond when and if they are faced with the next event.