title: Ready or not: analysis of a no-notice mass vaccination field response in Philadelphia.
abstract: Local health departments typically rely on exercises to test preparedness capacity; however, pre-scripted drills often lack the sense of urgency that a real event would engender. No-notice, unscripted exercises that challenge staff to think critically under pressure may provide a mechanism for a more realistic assessment of preparedness capacity. The very active influenza season of 2012-13 presented the Public Health Preparedness Program at the Philadelphia Department of Public Health with the opportunity to conduct an influenza vaccination clinic at a local boarding school. Program leaders used this opportunity to design a no-notice exercise to test the ability of staff to effectively coordinate an emergency field response while simultaneously delivering a real public health intervention. On the day of the exercise, staff members were given 6 hours to plan and execute a vaccination clinic without any guidance from program leaders. Best practices observed during the exercise included: (1) early identification and mitigation of rate-limiting steps, and (2) successful implementation of a previously untested high-throughput vaccination model. Although the primary intent of the exercise was to assess the ability of staff to respond to a no-notice event, this vaccination clinic also functioned as a microcosm of a larger response, revealing several considerations related to vaccine ordering, staff resources, and throughput rates that have broader implications for public health responses to large-scale biological attacks or pandemics.
authors: Jessica
authors: J
authors: Caum
authors: Steven
authors: S
authors: Alles
mesh_terms: D003625:Data Collection; D004189:Disaster Planning; D004630:Emergencies; D004864:Equipment and Supplies; D006801:Humans; D007252:Influenza Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000600:supply & distribution; D032541:Mass Vaccination / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration*; D015143:Philadelphia; D012574:Schools; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D007252:Influenza Vaccines