Yet there has been no national-level, comprehensive review of the evidence for public health emergency preparedness and response (PHEPR) practices. Recognizing this deficiency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) went to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine three years ago and asked them to convene a national panel of public health experts to review the evidence for emergency preparedness and response. The committee members included Stanford Health Policy Director Douglas K. Owens. The committee issued its findings July 14 with a report at a Zoom conference.

The Nation's capacity to respond to bioterrorism depends in part on the ability of clinicians and public health officials to detect, manage, and communicate during a bioterrorism event. Information technologies and decision support systems (IT/DSSs) have the potential to aid clinicians (e.g., physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, and respiratory therapists) and public health officials to respond effectively to a bioterrorist attack.

The Evidence Report from which this summary was taken details the methodology, results, and conclusions of a systematic and extensive search for published materials on the use of IT/DSSs to serve the information needs of clinicians and public health officials in the event of a bioterrorist attack. The information is intended to assist clinicians, public health officials, and policymakers to improve preparedness for a bioterrorism event.