PrepLink: a novel web-based tool for healthcare emergency planning and response

Effective planning and response to bioterrorism or other disasters, natural or manmade, requires timely and effective communication as well as situational awareness. During a catastrophic event, decision makers--including first responders, hospital workers, and command center emergency workers--will have a short time to make crucial decisions. Preparing to receive and treat patients, especially when there are mass casualties, requires immediate access to large amounts of integrated health data from disparate sources. This article describes PrepLink, a novel comprehensive web-based healthcare-related all-hazards electronic disaster management system. Over the past 3 years, PrepLink has been developed and tested at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in partnership with the Pennsylvania National Guard. It can be deployed in multiple sites across a region or state or more broadly. The system includes pages for public awareness about planning for and responding to disasters, as well as secure, password-protected private pages that can be used by many types of emergency and healthcare personnel who are involved in such events. Timely information related to public health, safety, planning, preparation, and response can be accessed from both sets of pages. The system permits rapid communication and sharing of team plans across disparate locations; it stores multiple key documents and contains asset inventories, a GIS, patient tracking, and a command-and-control module. Each function is directly related to providing healthcare treatment for victims. PrepLink's comprehensive and user friendly approach to health-related disaster management holds promise for future progress in this challenging arena.