Canadian healthcare readiness for public health emergencies

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creativework.keywords - en
Emergencies
Public health
dc.contributor.author
Lefebvre, Cory
Beswick, Adam
Crosby, Lauren
Mitchell, Eric
dc.date.accessioned
2024-01-10T19:12:18Z
dc.date.available
2024-01-10T19:12:18Z
dc.date.issued
2017-08-29
dc.description.abstract - en
Following the 2003 SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syn-drome) outbreak in Toronto, there remains a concern that Canada’s healthcare systems are inadequately equipped to re-spond to a future public health emergency. Public health emer-gencies, defined as an emergency need for health care services to respond to a disaster, significant or catastrophic event, are economically costly. Effective prevention and responses to future emergencies would prevent economic costs like those from the 2003 SARS outbreak. An analysis from Hawryluck et al. of the SARS response identified major gaps: incomplete infection control, lack of system-wide communications, and no system-wide coordination leading to isolated, inefficient responses. More than a decade later, improvements have been made but there are areas in the infection control protocol that still require changes. More training is required for Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel to effectively handle emer-gency scenes and to improve multiple agency coordination. Local hospitals need to improve their surge capacity, adminis-trative emergency preparedness infrastructure, and personnel training. The creation of the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) in 2004 responded to concerns about the capacity of Canada’s healthcare system to respond effectively to public health threats. At the provincial level, the Emergency Man-agement Branch (EMB) works effectively similar to and in coordination with PHAC. The needs for improvement should question if Canada will be able to handle the next public health emergency that rolls through its door.
dc.identifier.citation
Lefebvre C, Beswick A, Crosby L, Mitchell E. Canadian healthcare readiness for public health emergencies. University of Western Ontario Medical Journal. 2017 Aug 29;86(1):29-31. https://doi.org/10.5206/uwomj.v86i1.2156
dc.identifier.doi
https://doi.org/10.5206/uwomj.v86i1.2156
dc.identifier.issn
2560-8274
dc.identifier.uri
https://open-science.canada.ca/handle/123456789/1671
dc.language.iso
en
dc.publisher
University of Western Ontario
dc.subject - en
Health
dc.subject - fr
Santé
dc.subject.en - en
Health
dc.subject.fr - fr
Santé
dc.title - en
Canadian healthcare readiness for public health emergencies
dc.type - en
Article
dc.type - fr
Article
local.article.journalissue
1
local.article.journaltitle
University of Western Ontario Medical Journal
local.article.journalvolume
86
local.pagination
29-31
local.peerreview - en
Yes
local.peerreview - fr
Oui
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