title: Emergency planning and management in health care: priority research topics.
abstract: Many major incidents have significant impacts on people's health, placing additional demands on health-care organisations. The main aim of this paper is to suggest a prioritised agenda for organisational and management research on emergency planning and management relevant to U.K. health care, based on a scoping study. A secondary aim is to enhance knowledge and understanding of health-care emergency planning among the wider research community, by highlighting key issues and perspectives on the subject and presenting a conceptual model. The study findings have much in common with those of previous U.S.-focused scoping reviews, and with a recent U.K.-based review, confirming the relative paucity of U.K.-based research. No individual research topic scored highly on all of the key measures identified, with communities and organisations appearing to differ about which topics are the most important. Four broad research priorities are suggested: the affected public; inter- and intra-organisational collaboration; preparing responders and their organisations; and prioritisation and decision making.
authors.affiliation: Manchester Business School, The University of Manchester , Manchester, U.K.
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Boyd
authors.affiliation: Manchester Business School, The University of Manchester , Manchester, U.K.
authors.forename: Naomi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Chambers
authors.affiliation: University of Warwick , Coventry, U.K.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: French
authors.affiliation: University of Warwick , Coventry, U.K.
authors.forename: Duncan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Shaw
authors.affiliation: Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust , London, U.K.
authors.forename: Russell
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: King
authors.affiliation: Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust , Wigan, U.K.
authors.forename: Alison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Whitehead
keywords: business continuity; conceptual model; emergency planning and management; health care; research priorities