Bioterrorism clinicians

How can early recognition be enhanced in community-based settings The approaches are essentially the same as for hospital-based clinicians. One component is a heightened awareness of potential bioterror agents by practitioners. A second component is increased attentiveness to unusual patterns of disease occurrence. A third component is use of a syndromic approach to clinical recognition of disease patterns. As with acute care clinicians, community-based clinicians must recognize that they may fill the role of first responders in a biological attack. 

The preceding discussion focuses on the ability of individual clinicians to detect and recognize infectious processes that may be related to a bioterror event. To a certain extent, this relies on the art of clinicians— their expertise and clinical detective skills, which will clearly vary among practitioners. A number of electronic systems have been developed that provide diagnostic decision support to clinicians. Typically, these... 

Geberding, J. L., Hughes, J. M., Kooplan, J. P. (2002). Bioterrorism preparedness and response Clinicians and public health agencies as essential partners. In D. A. Henderson, T. O Toole, T. V. Inglesby (Eds.), Bioterrorism Guidelines for medical and public health management. Journal of the American Medical Association, 287, 898-900. 

Gerberding, JL, Hughes, JM, Koplan, JR Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response. Clinicians and Public Health Agencies as Essential Partners. JAMA, 287(7) 898-900, 2002... 

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