title: Which recommendations are considered essential for outbreak preparedness by first responders?
abstract: Preparedness is considered essential for healthcare organizations to respond effectively to outbreaks. In the current study we aim to capture the views of first responders on what they consider key recommendations for high quality preparedness. Furthermore, we identified the recommendations with the highest urgency from the perspective of first responders.
  
  
  
  We chose a multistep approach using a systematic Delphi procedure. Previously extracted recommendations from scientific literature were presented to a national and two international expert panels. We asked the experts to score the recommendations based on relevance for high quality preparedness. In addition we asked them to choose the ten most urgent recommendations.
  
  
  
  Starting with 80 recommendations from scientific literature, 49 key recommendations were selected by both international expert panels. Differences between both panels were mainly on triage protocols. In addition, large differences were found in the selection of the ten most urgent recommendations.
  
  
  
  In this study infectious disease experts selected a set of key recommendations representing high quality preparedness and specified which ones should be given the highest urgency when preparing for a future crisis. These key recommendations can be used to shape their preparedness activities.
authors.affiliation: Radboud University Medical Center, Radboud Institute for Health Sciences, IQ Healthcare, Geert Grooteplein 21, 6525, EZ, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. evelien.belfroid@rivm.nl.|National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Centre for Infectious Disease Control, Preparedness and Response Unit, Antoni van Leeuwenhoeklaan 9, 3721, MA, Bilthoven, The Netherlands. evelien.belfroid@rivm.nl.
authors.forename: Evelien
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Belfroid
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Centre for Infectious Disease Control, Preparedness and Response Unit, Antoni van Leeuwenhoeklaan 9, 3721, MA, Bilthoven, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Aura
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Timen
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Centre for Infectious Disease Control, Preparedness and Response Unit, Antoni van Leeuwenhoeklaan 9, 3721, MA, Bilthoven, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jim E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: van Steenbergen
authors.affiliation: Radboud University Medical Center, Radboud Institute for Health Sciences, IQ Healthcare, Geert Grooteplein 21, 6525, EZ, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Anita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Huis
authors.affiliation: Radboud University Medical Center, Radboud Institute for Health Sciences, IQ Healthcare, Geert Grooteplein 21, 6525, EZ, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Marlies E J L
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Hulscher
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003140:Communicable Disease Control / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D003697:Delphi Technique; D004189:Disaster Planning / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000517:prevention & control*; D060731:Emergency Responders; D006801:Humans; D009426:Netherlands; D014218:Triage / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards