Because natural and manmade disasters can occur at any time, individuals, communities, and governments must be prepared. RAND has developed guidelines for individual preparedness in response to terrorist attacks; evaluated, modeled, and enhanced preparedness policy options for government officials at all levels; and recommended actions that communities should take to prepare for bioterrorist attacks, pandemic flu outbreaks, and other large-scale emergencies.
Research conducted by: RAND Health; RAND Infrastructure, Safety, and Environment; International Programs; RAND Gulf States Policy Institute; RAND National Security Research Division; Homeland Security and Defense Center
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Individuals can take simple steps to protect themselves from the harmful effects of potential terrorist attacks involving chemical, radiological, nuclear, and biological weapons.
Research Briefs (17)
Between 1990 and 2009, the number of emergency rooms (ERs) in nonrural U.S. hospitals declined by 27 percent (from 2,446 to 1,779). Economic factors play a central role in an ER's ability to remain open.
Examines ways in which communities can improve their ability to withstand and recover from adversity.
Less than half of acute care visits in the United States involve a patient's personal physician. Emergency physicians, who comprise only 4 percent of doctors, handle 28 percent of all acute care encounters and nearly all after-hours and weekend care.
To maintain relevant medical skills, some military medical personnel stationed at military treatment facilities could be stationed in civilian emergency rooms and trauma centers, where cases more closely resemble those found during deployment.
Presents an assessment of how effectively state and local health departments communicated information regarding the April 2009 H1N1 virus (swine flu) outbreak via the Web to their constituents.
This research highlight summarizes the findings of RAND's initial evaluation of the Cities Readiness Initiative and the program's impact on communities' readiness to conduct mass dispensing of medications and other medical supplies.
Framing of a broad set of questions about how national preparedness can be meaningfully evaluated, this policy brief introduces an alternative way of thinking about measuring emergency preparedness.
This research brief summarizes research that has identified the advantages and disadvantages of some approaches used to measure public health preparedness and suggested avenues for developing new preparedness tools.
This research brief highlights the efforts undertaken by civilian and military organizations in response to Hurricane Katrina and discusses a number of steps can be taken to enhance future Army and National Guard disaster-response efforts.
This research brief presents results of a survey of state and local response organizations to learn what they have done to improve their ability to respond to terrorist incidents since 9/11, how they have improved, and what still needs improvement.
This fact sheet summarizes interrelated RAND projects to examine public health infrastructure and how public health preparedness is transforming public health agencies.
This fact sheet summarizes a RAND study to show how quality improvement methods can be used to improve the emergency preparedness of the U.S. public health system.
A national survey of state and local law enforcement agencies one year after 9/11 shows that agencies have bolstered their preparedness efforts, but substantial variation exists in the approach to preparedness and the preparedness needs of local agen...
Key findings: --The level of bioterrorism preparedness across California's jurisdictions is uneven, ranging from excellent to poor. --There are wide variations in every aspect of preparedness strategy, development, and implementation. --The system su...
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) teamed with the RAND Corporation to assess existing safety procedures and make recommendations to guide needed changes.
This research brief describes work documented in Individual Preparedness and Response to Chemical, Radiological, Nuclear, and Biological Terrorist Attacks (MR-1731-SF).
Emergency responders face serious hazards in their jobs, placing them at high risk of occupational injury or death. Using various forms of personal protective technologies (PPTs) can mitigate that risk.
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