300391 Occupational Health Management

Surveillance and disaster planning in Public healthcare

It is not the disaster but it is an aftermath of the disaster that hurts most. As a public health professional one has to see it from the point of view of the locus of control. The concept of the locus of the control gives us two areas. The first area is the area where we can change, amend and impact a few things. The second area is the area where the things are out of our control. As a professional working in the area of public of health care, an individual has no control over the issues like a rail accident, flood or the attack of the cyclone. He cannot control the number of causalities and other factors.

However, as a professional, we can jot down a list of the epidemics and other health conditions that may occur after a disaster.  As the beginning, we should have a demographic charter ready with us. The emergency care units and other general observation units should be installed in accordance with the number of people that are present in the area. This is also known as contingency and emergency planning (Horney, 2017).  

Apart from it, the public health department should do regular surveys to check the health status of the people in the area. This survey will enable them in planning for the emergency conditions. For instance, if a place has a history of a plague outbreak, then the chances of another plague outbreak after a disaster are always on the cards, the public health department should also have an industrial survey ready with them. Sometimes a disaster can open the box of Pandora in the area when some hazardous chemicals can play havoc in the environment.

The role of the public health surveillance is not confined to the direct conditions that the people are facing. The act of surveillance also demands a forecasting of future problems. For instance, the Carbon emission norms of any given area may not sound dangerous initially. However, when we calculate the percentage increase in the number of automobiles per annum in the area, then we can always calculate the year when the emissions will become hazardous.  Apart from serving an emergency, it is the responsibility of a public health service department to prevent probable hazards and disasters (Bruce W. Clements, 2016).

Bibliography

Bruce W. Clements, J. C. (2016). Disasters and Public Health: Planning and Response. Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann.

Horney, J. A. (2017). Disaster Epidemiology: Methods and Applications. Cambridge: Academic Press.