October 23, 2000

BIRMINGHAM, AL — The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) has been awarded a $500,000 contract from the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to develop a bioterrorist attack training program for clinicians. The project will support ongoing efforts to strengthen the nation’s healthcare infrastructure to respond to bioterrorist attacks.

“In the event of a bioterrorist attack, physicians, nurses and medical facilities will play a crucial role,” says Dr. Thomas Terndrup, director of the Center for Disaster Preparedness at UAB. “How well a hospital is prepared may have a tremendous impact on how well it and the community fare during and after an attack. However, until now, most preparedness activities have focused on first responders, such as emergency medical technicians, firemen and law enforcement officials.”

The training program, called “Innovative Approaches to Training Clinicians for Bioterrorist Attacks,” is a collaborative effort of the Center for Disaster Preparedness and the Center for Outcomes and Effectiveness Research and Education at UAB. Investigators who will develop the training program include Norm Weissman, Ph.D., professor of health administration at UAB, as well as numerous faculty from the schools of Medicine, Public Health, Social and Behavioral Sciences and Education.

The program will focus on training clinicians how to recognize a possible threat and how to respond. “Pivotal to implementation of post-attack measures is identification of the agent used in the attack,” Terndrup says. “But before identification can be made, an astute clinician has to recognize something has happened.”

Training also will address handling and packaging contaminated samples, decontaminating potential victims and protecting hospital staff and others. “Training will prepare clinicians for receiving mass casualties, providing respiratory support for large numbers of patients received all at once, distributing medications and working with local government agencies,” Terndrup says.

Because clinicians are busy and focused on their particular areas of specialty, the training will be streamlined, with emphasis on the importance of preparing for a bioterrorist attack. “Many physicians believe a bioterrorist attack cannot happen in their communities,” says Terndrup. “We must show them the importance of being prepared. In order for a clinician to properly diagnose a case of smallpox, the clinician must first be open to possibility that it could indeed be smallpox.”

The Center for Disaster Preparedness began operations in June 2000. “Our mission is to develop a center to serve as a hub for researchers, clinicians and educators involved in disaster preparedness,” Terndrup says. “This award will help us do that.”