Homeland Protection Professional Magazine
March 2004
Print and Online
Chicago, IL, USA
Circulation: 20,000

JANE'S MASS CASUALTY HANDBOOK: HOSPITAL EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE
By Joseph Barbera, MD and Anthony Macintyre, MD, spiral-bound, 344 pages, Jane's Information Group, 2003, ISBN 0710625928, $35

In the wake of September 11, 2001, and the subsequent anthrax attacks, our nation's hospitals face the challenge of becoming better trained to prepare for, mitigate and recover from potential WMD events.  Concurrently, however, hospitals are struggling with staffing shortages, closures, EMS diversions and declining profit margins, all of which degrade their ability to maintain daily operations, let alone prepare for disaster.

In light of this, hospital emergency management program planners face severe challenges as they work to develop and implement integrated, comprehensive strategies for a wide variety of natural and man-made scenarios.  The latest manual in the Jane's handbooks provides the healthcare facility's emergency management or disaster planners with much-needed help as they develop emergency operations plans and maintain an overall posture of readiness.

Authors Drs. Joe Barbera and Anthony Macintyre, both highly esteemed in emergency and disaster response and management, are joined by an assemblage of well-credentialed colleagues.  In keeping with current disaster management doctrine, the handbook advocates an all-hazards approach, so that preparation for any type of event is based on a single operations plan containing core processes, with special requirements designated by specific situations.

The result is a handbook that combines the needed guidance principles with helpful checklists and charts to help the hospital EM planner develop, implement and exercise an EOP.  This systems approach facilitates more effective management of information, decision-making and response coordination.  Whether a healthcare facility has adopted the Hospital Emergency Incident Command System or an Incident Management System model, the translation is easily made.

In addition to providing the backbone for the overall EOP concept of operations, this handbook has sections on Chemical and Radiation Preparedness, Biological Events, and Special Situations, each of which gives the reader invaluable information.  Security concerns, logistical issues and other pertinent considerations are also covered.

Whether you're a hospital EM planner with extensive or limited experience, there's much here for you and your team.

—Kelly Burkholder-Allen, RN, MSEd,
University of Findlay Center for Terrorism Preparedness

INFECTIOUS DISEASE NEWS
Thorofare, New Jersey, USA
Monthly Circulation: 4,855
December 2003
 
PREPAREDNESS HANDBOOK
 
Jane's Information Group
110 N. Royal Street, Suite 200
Alexandria, VA 22314-3240
Phone: 703-683-3700
Web site: www.janes.com
 
Jane's Mass Casualty Handbook: Hospital provides focused guidance to health care facilities in developing emergency management capabilities. Co-authored by Joseph A. Barbera, MD, co-director of the Institute for Crisis, Disaster and Risk Management, and Anthony G. MacIntyre, MD, associate professor with the Department of Emergency Medicine at George Washington University, the handbook uses a systems approach to emergency planning and response.
 
Among the topics covered in the book are: an Emergency Management Program; an Emergency Operations Plan; incident command/management systems; treating chemical, biological, radiological or explosive casualties; decontamination setup and procedures; personal protective equipment; training and exercises; and on-scene procedures.

South African Medical Journal (Health & Medical Publishing Group)
March 2004, Vol. 94, No. 3
(c. 20,000. South Africa)
 
Jane's Mass Casualty Handbook: Hospital Emergency Preparedness and Response
 
By Joseph A Barbera and Anthony G Macintyre. Pp. 344. US $34
Jane's Information Group, Ltd. 2003. ISBN O-7106-2592-8
 
This American handbook is designed to assist emergency facilities and their personnel to prepare for, respond to, and recover from mass casualty incidents. It is not a comprehensive text, but provides general guidelines in a way that allows any hospital to make use of and apply the guidelines as circumstances dictate.
 
The authors are regarded as experts in hospital emergency plans and mass decontamination capability. They provided medical management in recent terrorist activities, including the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, and the Pentagon and World Trade Center incidents in September 2001.
 
The book is divided into sections that deal with the hospital's role, emergency preparedness, response to mass casualties, explosions, chemical and radiation preparedness, biological events, mass gatherings, and training exercises.
 
There is an expected American bias, with concentration on nuclear, biological, and chemical incidents. However, it is a useful and interesting handbook.
 
Clive Balfour
 
All books reviewed are obtainable from SAMA-HMPG Book Department. Tel: (021) 530-6527, Fax: (021) 531-4126, E-mail: books@samedical.org. All orders for SAMA members are subject to a 5% discount.
 

Emergency Services Times
April/May 2003
(c. 4,800, UK)
 
Jane’s Mass Casualty Handbook: Hospital
 
Over the past few decades, hospitals have evolved very effective management processes
for running day to day operations. Despite their efficiency, these systems are not well
suited to managing the fast paced and high volume emergency operations required to
handle a mass casualty incident.
 
Incident specific
 
In the post 11 September environment other fields have changed their operational processes
to meet the needs posed by emerging threats. In the business and emergency response fields, incident specific crisis management plans have been put into place.
These plans allow agencies to smoothly transition from daily process to operations in a
crisis environment.
 
In light of this need, the new Jane’s Mass Casualty Handbook: Hospital (along with the
Pre-Hospital edition) provides focused guidance to healthcare facilities striving to develop
emergency management capabilities, including an effective and robust Emergency Operations Plan (EOP).
 
The authors, two US based emergency physicians with extensive experience in hospital
emergency management and responding to major incidents (including the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and the anthrax letters) provide a manual that is easy
to use and readily customisable. Guidance is realistic, cost effective, sustainable and multi use (for all hazards and integrated with day to day operations). Background information, general guidelines and system requirements allows each hospital to make use of the material according to their needs.
 
Enhancing hospital procedures The Jane’s handbook provides principles and checklists aimed at enhancing hospital preparedness. It adheres to a ‘systems approach’ by providing helpful hints that get management, doctors, and other hospital staff working together.
 
An all hazards guide, this book aims to lay down practices and guidelines that help hospitals perform under the stress of any incident while maintaining the flexibility to adapt as circumstances dictate.
 
The text is divided into two broad sections – maintaining integrity of management and
operations during an emergency, and effectively responding to incidents involving chemical,
biological, radiological, nuclear or explosive weapons. It includes valuable guidance
for all hospital personnel on, for example, decontamination setup and procedures,
personal protective equipment, making effective use of volunteers and treating chemical or
biological casualties.
 
Essential reference
 
An essential reference, Jane’s Mass Casualty Handbook: Hospital will help any healthcare
facility prepare for, respond to and recover from a mass casualty incident