Table 1.

Current gaps in emergency management that have infectious disease implications

Gaps in emergency management that may affect infection transmission
•Community settings (alternate care sites and shelters) lack infection prevention guidance
•Health care providers in all settings require more infection prevention education
•Nonhospital-based health care workers have historically received the least infection prevention education
•Nonhospital-based health care workers may be the first to recognize or respond to an infectious disease issue during a disaster but have received little to no training in this area
•Nonhospital-based health care workers lack access to the Health Alert Network and other existing methods of communicating infection prevention-related information
•Few infection preventionists are subject matter experts in infectious disease disasters, such as bioterrorism and pandemics
•Infection preventionists need more education related to planning for infectious disease disasters, including triaging patients, social distancing, surveillance methodologies, and others
•Effectiveness of current electronic surveillance systems for disasters has not been established
•Public health professionals’ knowledge about infection prevention is not known
•Surge capacity as it relates to infection prevention issues (such as negative-pressure room/area surge capacity) is lacking and needs to be better defined
•Crisis standards of care need to be developed and evaluated; may have an impact on infection spread during disasters
•General public requires more education about the potential infectious disease implications of disasters and strategies they can implement to help prevent the spread of infection