There are so many mobile resources and apps available to assist nurses and other public health professionals before and during emergency situations. Finding and evaluating the best tools takes time, as does learning how to use them effectively and quickly.
The Essentials.
Here's an abbreviated list of some important mobile apps for emergency preparedness outlined below. For more information about each app, click the image, which links to the developer's website. You may be interested in checking out the White House's favorite disaster apps as well. I think my list is more practical for the average public health clinician, but the POTUS does have pretty good taste.
National Library of MedicineThe National Library of Medicine (NLM) has developed a suite of widely-used resources for mobile devices such as WISER (see below) and has evaluated and made accessible on their Web site many other mobile apps and other information resources that are useful in emergency and disaster situations. A few of their apps are listed here, but I recommend checking out their full list of clinical and disaster and emergency apps.
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PubMed
PubMed has millions of references or citations to articles from peer-reviewed medical journals. Currently over 5,000 journals are indexed in PubMed. In addition, NLM also maintains a massive repository of full-text articles that are available for free.
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WISER
WISER (Wireless Information System for Emergency Responders) is a system designed to assist emergency responders in hazardous material incidents. Developed by the National Library of Medicine, AKA the world's largest medical library, WISER provides a wide range of information on hazardous substances, including substance identification support, physical characteristics, human health information, and containment and suppression guidance. The information is updated frequently, providing the most comprehensive and up-to-date info for clinicians involved with any branch of disaster response.
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Ready GeorgiaReady Georgia is an app developed by Georgia Department of Public Health and Georgia Emergency Management Agency/Homeland Security (GEMA). The app features geo-targeted severe weather and emergency alerts that will notify your phone before disasters strike. It also includes a customizable emergency plan and supplies checklist, information on how to deal with specific threats, and maps detailing everything from live traffic to the location of open emergency shelters. FEMA has also developed a data visualization map that explores historic federal disasters by state, county, hazard and year. It's a nice tool, but not worthy of its own headline, which is why I mention it here.
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CDC Mobile Apps
CDC has about 30 mobile apps available on iTunes (for iOS), and a few for Android and Microsoft Windows 8. Apps include information targeted for the general public, as well as a selection specifically for healthcare professionals about the MMWR, flu outbreaks, TB/STDs, disaster triage, and what vaccinations are needed before international travel.
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Lantern LiveLantern Live is the type of app you need when the power goes out. It was developed by U.S. Department of Energy, that allows users to report the operational status of local gas stations, find fuel, and look up power outage maps from local utilities, while also accessing useful tips and guidelines. Lantern Live is available for Android at Google Play here. This is a new app, so I'm marking this app as "Essential" because of the potential it has to help crowdsource important info about open gas stations and power outages. I did play around with it during the Winter Events of Feb 2015, but my gas tank was full so there wasn't much at stake. It does not appear to be supported by Apple IOS, but I'm sure that will change soon.
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Georgia Power Outage Map
HHS emPOWER Map |
Another Georgia-specific map you might want to check out during an outage is the Georgia Power Outage map. This isn't an app, but you can bookmark this site on your phone so it's easy to access. Through this site, you can also report an outage (PS Twitter is also a super effective way to communicate w/ GA Power) and get an estimate of how many people in your jurisdiction are affected. For more information on how to use the map, click here.
There's an additional, fairly new tool, called HHS emPOWER Map, which anyone can use to see approximately how many people use electricity dependent medical equipment in their state, territory, county, or zip code and tracks severe weather events. As many of the people who use electricity-dependent equipment are Medicare beneficiaries, the HHS emPOWER Map provides the total number of Medicare beneficiary claims for certain electricity-dependent medical and assistive equipment down to the zip-code level. |
When you need to perform First Aid
There are 2 American Red Cross apps that are free and work well for First Aid. The American Red Cross First Aid app has info for first aid and disaster preparedness. There is an option for calling 911 right from the app – this requires cell service, of course. There is a timer for how long to cool a burn under a faucet and tests of your knowledge. The SOS app is only for android phones and provides similar emergency instructions and alerts as well as videos.
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American Red Cross
The Red Cross has developed multiple apps. http://www.redcross.org/prepare/mobile-apps
2 Apps for Lost or missing persons
The Lost Person Behavior app is designed to provide a step-by-step checklist for first responders as well as everyday citizens involved in search and rescue efforts. Using data from over 150,000 missing person cases across the country, the app provides guidance, tactical briefings, investigative questions, and statistics for over 40 different scenarios. These include lost hikers, hunters, children, missing vehicles, despondent individuals, dementia patients, and climbers. It also provides guidance for snow and water incidents. This app is available to download (for a fee) from Apple iTunes, Google Play and Amazon.com.
ReUnite is the post-disaster family reunification tool for reporting and searching for missing or found people after a disaster. There's a similar tool called People Locator.
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Lost Person Behavior AppReunite App |
Heat Safety ToolThis is a great tool for anyone who works outside during the summer--or looks after the health of those who do. Each year, thousands of people suffer from heat exhaustion and, in some cases, die as a result. This app helps you calculate the heat index for a location and displays the risk level for heat illness. It also provides reminders about drinking enough fluids, scheduling rest breaks, planning for and knowing what to do in an emergency, etc. This tool was developed by OSHA and is available in English and Spanish for Android and iPhone devices. To access the Spanish version on the iPhone, set the phone language setting to Spanish before downloading the app.
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