The international response to the earthquake in Haiti has been impressive however there still exist a significant lack of coordination in the relief effort.  The US as well as other organizations are pulling valuable reources out of the country declaring the rescue mission over.  However, communications, food, shelter, sanitation, healthcare and other basic essiential are still critically substandard.  Although all disasters are local in nature, Haiti command and control is non-existant.  New leadership is developing in local camps and resources distribution is sole based on power control.  As this is a disaster with international implications, it may be best served by a UN response for coordination of effort.  Until a coordinated effort is developed the people of Haiti will continue to suffer.

Civil Rights versus Public Safety

Recent events in the US has again fueled the debate over how secure America want to be and at what cost.  Those on the side of civil rights are against the use of profiling, water boarding, and other interogation tactics. Additionally, they want us to be perceived as a kinder, gentler America, where terrorist aren't called terrorist or enemy combatants and they are allowed the rule and rights of American law when they attack us.  I will admit thare has been times when I was concerned over the degradation of our civil rights since the attacks of September 11th, 2001.  But after nine years, we are still at significant risk for our safety at home.  What is the right balance of civil rights versus personal safety?  If we take action on our own to protect ourselves, is it enough?  Do you trust our decison makers to take the necessary actions to protect us, our family, friends and homeland? What are you willing to do?  What are you willing to give up to ensure our safety?

Are Your Assets Secure?

With the recent security breach at a State Dinner I wonder how secure our assets are when the Secret Service, has a major human failure.  When two interlopers can breach a secure area, passing two seperate human security agents and reach the President of the United States at a State function it is time to rethink our security processes. Is your organization secure?  Do you have adequate access control measures?  Are your assest mission critical?  Are visitors challenged appropriately to ensure they have proper credentials and and are on official business? Do you have a reactive or proactive security in place? Are false alrms a significan problem?

The Value of Human Patient Simulation

Human patient simulation is a tremendous tool for medical education and training but it often under utilized and relegated to roles that can accomplished through the use of simple task trainers.  Although a human patient simulator can be programmed to mimic a variety of clinical signs and symptoms theei true value comes in as a decision modeler.  Whether a student is working individually or as a team member, having an immediate feedback loop to evaluate the cause and effect of a students actions and treatments is tremendous.  Having clinical skills is one thing, having the ability to evaluate, identify, implement and reassess effectiveness is critical.  Our graduating students come out much better prepared to be leaders and decision makers after being exposed to this educaton technology.

Using Human Patient Simulation for Disaster Medical Training

There are several challenges to disaster medical response training and include the use of limited or non-standard equipment and supplies, working under altered standards of care, expanded scope of practices, altered triage decision tree, surge capacity, failure of communications and a variety of other issues that impact mass casualty care.  Add to the scenario the the integration of NIMS, and the incident command system and you will see how decisions made far away from your location can impact your patient care and outcome.