NHS Partners With Harvard

Researchers from Harvard School of Public Health are leading a new, multi-institution partnership aimed at improving the way that public health systems respond in times of crisis.

Collaborators include co-principal investigator Michael Stoto, professor of health systems administration at NHS, as well as representatives from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston University, and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.

The effort—housed at Harvard and funded by a recent five-year $8.6 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)—marks a new approach to emergency preparedness efforts.

In the past, public health emergency preparedness has mainly focused on training and workforce development, according to principal investigator Howard Koh, Harvey V. Fineberg Professor of the Practice of Public Health at Harvard.

To date, the advancement of the science and practice of public health emergency preparedness has been severely hindered by the lack of appropriate criteria and metrics.

Despite the national investment of billions of dollars in preparedness training since 9/11, the U.S. lacks the ability to objectively assess capabilities and performance.

The project, "Linking Assessment and Measurement to Performance on Public Health Emergency Preparedness Systems" (LAMPS), will conduct research to evaluate the structure, capabilities, and effectiveness of public health systems for emergency preparedness and response activities.

With the new CDC grant, the researchers expect to be able to conduct comprehensive research to evaluate whether these past efforts have been effective and learn how to improve the level of preparedness. Specifically, the collaborators are focusing on four core areas of public health emergency preparedness:

• Defining the criteria needed to measure the effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical interventions for pandemic flu.
  
  
• Developing valid and reliable measures of public health emergency communication capabilities, especially with vulnerable groups in the community.
  
  
• Determining how best to use drills and exercises to measure response capabilities.
  
  
• Applying the systems improvement approaches used in health care to public health emergency preparedness.

"We hope that our new national research center will not only help shape the emerging science of performance measurement in emergency preparedness, but also strengthen protection for the public against health threats during these volatile times," said Koh.

"We're taking a step back and asking ourselves basic questions about how to measure public health emergency preparedness," added Stoto. "Without valid measures, it is difficult to demonstrate the value of society's investments in preparedness or to achieve continuous improvement."

An advisory committee will be comprised of 20 national experts and will provide guidance and support in the research and design of public health preparedness metrics—concrete measurements of capabilities and effectiveness.