CDC's March Grand Rounds Video and Presentation Slides are Now Available

The video and presentation slides, including Beyond the Data, from the March session of CDC’s Public Health Grand Rounds, “Addressing Preparedness Challenges for Children in Public Health Emergencies,”held on Tuesday, March 17 are now available at http://www.cdc.gov/cdcgrandrounds/archives/2015/march2015.htm.

Public health emergencies can happen at any time, anywhere. Natural disasters, epidemics, and terrorist attacks that have occurred in recent years have underscored the importance of local, state, and federal public health systems in preparing for potential health threats. Public health emergencies, such as Hurricane Katrina, the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, and 9/11 have shown that children have different needs than adults, and require special attention, such as pediatric-focused care. However, responses to past events also show that the unique needs of children have not been adequately addressed in the planning process.

Incorporating the needs of children into emergency preparedness planning is critical. A child’s age and size may require the use of different medications or equipment for medical care, but availability of these pediatric resources is often limited. Clinicians accustomed to performing certain procedures on adults often do not feel comfortable performing these same procedures on a child – posing dilemmas for individual responders during times of emergency.

This session of Grand Rounds discussed strategies to address the unique vulnerabilities of children in every stage of emergency planning. Presenters also highlighted the strong progress that has been made in pediatric disaster readiness as well as the collaboration that is still needed between public health professionals and pediatric care providers to improve the outcomes for children during emergencies.

Continuing Education

Continuing education for Grand Rounds is available and ALL Continuing Education for Grand Rounds are issued online through the CDC/ATSDR Training & Continuing Education Online system. If you have questions, email or call Learner Support at 1-800-418-7246 (1-800-41TRAIN).

Learn more about continuing education on the Grand Rounds website.
 

Future Grand Rounds Topics

April – Prevention and Control of Skin Cancer

May – Dengue and Chikungunya In Our Backyard: Preventing and Controlling Mosquito-Borne Viruses