Preparing for the worst: Are America's doctors ready?

The Dept. of Homeland Security's first "top doc" urges physicians to get informed about their communities' emergency response plans -- before disaster strikes.

By Amy Snow Landa, AMNews correspondent. March 6, 2006.

How many physicians know what to do after a biological or chemical attack on their community?

Not many, according to Jeffrey W. Runge, MD, the recently appointed chief medical officer at the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security.

"When I go out to talk to medical societies and medical groups, I ask them: How many of you have read your county's disaster plan? How many have seen your hospital's disaster plan? Do you know your role if there is a biological attack on your community, or a dirty bomb, or chemical attack?"

The response has surprised him, he told AMNews. "I'm afraid not many hands go up."

Dr. Runge has been urging doctors to reach out to their local public health departments and to get connected to their communities' emergency preparedness efforts so they'll know what to do in the event of a terrorist attack, flu pandemic or large-scale natural disaster such as Hurricane Katrina. "Every physician -- whether they're office-based or hospital-based -- needs to understand what their role is should their services be needed in a disaster."

Dr. Runge warned that local communities likely will be on their own, at least initially, in providing emergency medical response after a catastrophic event. "People can't expect help from the federal government in the first hours after an attack."

Doctors should find out before disaster strikes how their community plans to respond, how they fit into those plans, and who they can contact with questions and concerns, he said.