Two tools may help with public health emergency response: real-time surveys of providers on the front lines, and a new framework for capturing successes and learning from failures.

Ebola happened. Zika and the opioid overdose crisis are happening now. And the next national or global public health emergency is surely just around the corner.

Each time, those on the front lines need real-time information, training, equipment and medications to save lives. Government agencies and global health organizations need to know what’s happening, fast, so they can adjust their plans and advice.

But too often, the best lessons aren’t compiled and shared until after the situation ends, when it’s too late to apply them.

That needs to change, says Mahshid Abir, M.D., a University of Michigan Medical School emergency medicine physician who also works for the RAND research organization.

Read the full article at UM Health Lab

By Kara Gavin, August 11, 2016