Getting To Outcomes® Guide for Community Emergency Preparedness

Patricia A. Ebener, Sarah B. Hunter, Rachel M. Adams, David Eisenman, Joie D. Acosta, Matthew Chinman

ToolPublished Aug 21, 2017

Cover: Getting To Outcomes® Guide for Community Emergency Preparedness

Getting To Outcomes (GTO) is a user-friendly, ten-step process for comprehensive planning, implementation guidance, and evaluation of programs and community initiatives. Research has shown that organizations that use GTO improve their programs and get better outcomes than organizations that do not use GTO.

This guide is designed to lead the user through the ten steps of GTO and provide supplemental information and resources to assist with the planning, implementation, evaluation, continuous quality improvement, and sustainability of a community emergency preparedness (CEP) program. GTO can help an organization assess the need for and the fit of a CEP program, identify a specific goal, and specify desired outcomes that relate to the goal. After that, GTO can help the organization choose an evidence-based public health approach and a plan for successful implementation. GTO will also help the organization plan and collect process and outcome evaluation data to improve and sustain the program.

CEP programs generally focus on increasing awareness about the importance of being prepared and educating community members about simple ways that they can make themselves and their neighbors better prepared for disaster. For example, having a seven-day supply of food, water, and medication and a written household evacuation plan — simple ways to improve household preparedness — can help prepare the population to cope with service disruption, thereby lessening the burden on systems and hospitals.

Each chapter in the guide contains blank tools to assist with that chapter's GTO step, completed examples of each tool, and detailed instructions.

Topics

Document Details

Citation

RAND Style Manual
Ebener, Patricia A., Sarah B. Hunter, Rachel M. Adams, David Eisenman, Joie D. Acosta, and Matthew Chinman, Getting To Outcomes® Guide for Community Emergency Preparedness, RAND Corporation, TL-259-CDC, 2017. As of October 10, 2024: https://www.rand.org/pubs/tools/TL259.html
Chicago Manual of Style
Ebener, Patricia A., Sarah B. Hunter, Rachel M. Adams, David Eisenman, Joie D. Acosta, and Matthew Chinman, Getting To Outcomes® Guide for Community Emergency Preparedness. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2017. https://www.rand.org/pubs/tools/TL259.html.
BibTeX RIS

The research described in this report was conducted by RAND Health.

This publication is part of the RAND tool series. RAND tools include models, databases, calculators, computer code, GIS mapping tools, practitioner guidelines, web applications, and various other toolkits and applied research products. All RAND tools undergo rigorous peer review to ensure both high data standards and appropriate methodology in keeping with RAND's commitment to quality and objectivity.

This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited; linking directly to this product page is encouraged. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial purposes. For information on reprint and reuse permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions.

RAND is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.