Bioterrorism Preparedness

 

Centers of Excellence

Hektoen currently has two active programs dealing with bioterrorism: the first, based at Stroger Hospital of Cook County, was designated as one of two “Centers of Excellence in Bioterrorism and Hospital Preparedness” by the Chicago Department of Public Health. In this area, we are collaborating with CDPH and other Chicago leadership hospitals to implement a series of programs to prepare our hospital and the region for all disasters or disease outbreaks we might face. In case of disaster, the program provides funds to purchase a fabricated hospital, beds, medical supplies, and clinical supplies to ensure continuity of patient care services.

Bioterrorism Preparedness and Readiness Project

The second program, the Bioterrorism Preparedness and Readiness Project, led by Rebecca Roberts, MD at Stroger Hospital of Cook County and led by Stephen Roskam, MD at Provident Hospital serves to develop and evaluate surveillance to rapidly detect influenza-like illnesses (ILI) and distinguish possible bioterrorism-caused illnesses from other causes of ILI. The overarching approach is to compare historic emergency department (ED) ILI data to current and ongoing occurrences by day, week, and season. To increase the sensitivity of this approach, project investigators:

  1. Test expanded ILI definitions that incorporate vital signs, diagnosis, and lab data;
  2. Look for disease clusters by age group; and
  3. Look for disease clusters by geographic area and age group.

In addition, they measure long-term trends in the ED population, patient census, and severity of illness. Recognizing and incorporating such trends into our surveillance algorithms is crucial, as failure to do so could lead to false alarms or the inability to recognize a cluster occurring early in special risk groups such as the young, elderly or frail. Ultimately, this project will increase the sensitivity by which we can distinguish between ILI not caused by bioterrorism and ILI that is.

Bioterrorism Real Time Disease Detection Program

The third program is led by Dr. Bala Hota at Stroger Hospital of Cook County. This project is to:

  1. Assist the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) in establishing an automated Electronic Laboratory Reporting (ELR) connection.
  2. Participate with CDPH in the education, recruitment and selection of a group of hospitals to partner with CDPH to establish ELR connections.

The ELR interface will have the capability of connecting and receiving raw data from the Laboratory Information System and Hospital Information system from each participating site. The system would enable a triple use:

  1. daily operating usage;
  2. ongoing education and training of the system to enhance preparedness and to create added value for all partners; and
  3. flexible, expandable, reliable use of the system in the event of a bioterrorism incident or a naturally occurring healthcare disaster.

    Visit our web site at: http://elr.cchil.org