drchrono Inc., the creator of a free Electronic Medical Record (EMR) platform - on the iPad, iPhone, and cloud - has released its new application for iOS7, which is the first mobile electronic health record (EHR) to support Apple's new iOS7 operating system. The mobile EHR app allows doctors both to connect with patients and to run other aspects of their practice - which includes medical records sharing, electronic prescribing, medical billing, and patient management, all of which can be controlled from the iPad.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced a final rule for the unique device identification system (UDI) that, after being implemented, will provide an improved and more consistent way to identify medical devices. The UDI system has the potential to improve the quality of information in medical device adverse-event reports, which in turn will help the FDA identify product problems more quickly, target recalls more effectively, and improve patient safety in general.
Juniper Systems recently loaned ten Mesa Rugged Notepads to officials in Colorado to be used for disaster management. Using the Mesa will help building officials and deputized engineers inspect buildings, assess the damage, and record the data developed - after which the officials will be able to color tag the buildings according to the extent of the sustained damage.
"H7N9 avian influenza virus - like all novel influenza virus strains to which people have not been exposed - has the potential to cause widespread sickness and mortality," said National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. "We are now testing a vaccine candidate with and without adjuvant in an effort to prepare for and, hopefully, protect against this possibility."
Defining "resilience" is one challenge; putting it into action is another one, more difficult and more complex. The Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory is addressing both challenges, and recently asked a broad spectrum of thought leaders to help strengthen the nation's ability "to adapt, withstand, and recover."
Several regions of the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration (NOAA) - led U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) have partnered to deploy approximately 15 of the autonomous underwater vehicles, also called gliders, for up to eight weeks during the peak fall Atlantic storm season. The gliders will collect data on ocean conditions to help improve scientists' understanding of hurricanes and pave the way for future improvements in hurricane intensity forecasts.
The administration has announced some new steps to build on the progress made thus far, including the launch of several new tools and resources to help make it easier for companies to build out high-speed Internet, particularly in underserved communities, and the release of a progress report on implementation of the President's Executive Order.
FINDAR enables police to quickly locate subsurface targets for further investigation. The system can be used in a variety of terrains in both rural and urban settings.
The written testimony of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Office of Response and Recovery Associate Administrator Joseph Nimmich for a House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency hearing on the continuing efforts to assist communities affected by recent disasters.
Although traditionally serving the military community, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) is now playing an increasingly important role in support of the U.S. civilian community - both domestically and abroad. As recent natural disasters have demonstrated, the Department has both the ability and the willingness to provide services that promote whole-of-community resilience.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has been gathering information from leaders across the nation to help update its National Infrastructure Protection Plan. One organization that has been playing an active role in the update process is The Infrastructure Security Partnership, which has facilitated working groups and discussions to help further resilience and protect the nation's critical infrastructure.
Emergency managers assess risks that are likely to exist within their communities. Planned special events, however, may introduce additional risks that can easily be overlooked during those assessments. The National Capital Region and the state of Maryland are addressing this concern to help prevent the overwhelming of existing resources.
Visualant Inc., a leading provider of disruptive light-based technologies, has announced the release of its ChromaID Scanner to a private team of engineers and scientists. The new portable identification, authentication, and diagnostic applications are a fraction of the cost and size of current systems used in their respective industries.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has launched a web-based tool, called ChemView, to significantly improve access to not only chemical-specific regulatory information developed by EPA but also to data submitted under the Toxic Substances Control Act.
"Our business model is to provide cost effective and secure cloud solutions for healthcare, education, municipal government, and public safety organizations - and Certes' unique mix of virtual and appliance based encryption products enable us to achieve this goal," Robert Henley, President of Private Digital Network Services (PDNS).
The growing impact of disasters underscores the need for a new approach to preparing the nation's communities. Recently, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) unveiled America's PrepareAthon!, a nationwide community-based action campaign to improve the nation's overall emergency preparedness and resilience capabilities.
Earthquakes have changed the course of rivers, tornadoes have uprooted and moved trees and homes, and other types of disasters have caused terrain and geographical changes that made it difficult for residents to recognize their own neighborhoods. Geographic information systems offer emergency managers and responders a valuable tool to help build more resilient communities.
September is designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency as National Preparedness Month - a time when U.S. agencies and organizations, at all levels, recognize the need for and take steps to improve their own preparedness efforts.
The Charlottesville Fire Department has been able to turn a difficult and labor-intensive task into a relatively simple daily routine. Having the right tools to communicate with other organizations, and to receive timely and accurate information, makes incident command operations easier to manage.
Inc. Magazine has, for the second year in a row, included First Line Technology LLC on its annual Inc. 500|5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in America. First Line Technology is a small business provider of Out of the Box Solutions that solves historic challenges for first responders.
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Craig Fugate has kicked off the tenth annual National Preparedness Month (NPM), joining local New York City Emergency Management officials, and members of the New York City Citizen Corps Council, at the Children's Museum on Staten Island to talk about the importance of family and community emergency preparedness.
The Attunda Fire & Rescue Service has chosen RescueSim for its incident management and emergency response training. RescueSim was developed by VSTEP and is a new generation of virtual training tools for emergency responders and fire-and-rescue services.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has announced that it will expand its TSACheck program to 60 new airports in addition to the existing 40. TSACheck is an expedited screening program that allows pre-approved airline travelers, in select screening lanes, to keep on: (a) their shoes, light outerwear, and belts; (b) their laptops (in cases); and (c) their 3-1-1 compliant liquid/gel bags (in carry-ons).
Salamander has announced the addition of two exciting mobile applications for smartphones and tablets - the 01 TAG app and the 02 TRACK app - to its existing line of Intelligent Accountability (IA) products. Both of the new products are available on Apple and Android systems.
The resounding success of the American Red Cross's First Aid and Disaster apps has created a continuing demand for these simple lifesaving tools in Red Cross and Red Crescent societies around the world. To help meet this need, the Global Disaster Preparedness Center launched, in May, a new Universal First Aid App Pilot, which will give 17 Red Cross partners the access they need to app development tools. The Pilot app allows these partners to localize all of the content available - from language to images - and adapt it to best fit the context of the individual countries involved.
Many facilities and services that are particularly critical for communities to function at full capacity are also vulnerable to both physical and intellectual harm. One solution to this problem is a unified management approach to protect the capital assets and business relationships needed to continue providing all essential services and tangible products.
Natural disasters such as floods and forest fires can have a crippling effect on communities large and small when they damage the critical infrastructure and, at times, literally change the local landscape. However, advance planning for a total and possibly prolonged separation from the outside world can significantly improve the response and recovery operations.
The National Mitigation Framework establishes a common platform and forum for coordinating and addressing how the nation as a whole manages risk through various types of mitigation capabilities. Mitigation reduces the impact of disasters by, among other things: (a) supporting protection and prevention activities; (b) facilitating response operations; and (c) speeding recovery to create better prepared and more resilient communities. This new Framework describes mitigation roles across the whole community.
Despite the increase in the policing of high-crime "hotspots" in a number of major U.S. cities, and the evidence of its effectiveness, there has been surprisingly little research on what police officers should actually do when patrolling those areas. The Philadelphia Police Department in Pennsylvania and its research partners in the Department of Criminal Justice at Temple University sought to address this limitation in the knowledge base through a randomized controlled study examining the impacts of three different police strategies in violent crime hotspots.
The National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) is charged with augmenting the nation's medical response in support of state and local authorities. To accomplish its mission, the NDMS has employed Disaster Medical Assistance Teams (DMATs) - consisting of professional medical personnel, supported by logistics and administrative teams - across the country. A major mission of DMAT teams is to support healthcare facilities during a disaster or other event that overwhelms normal operations.
Loyola University in Chicago, Illinois, is expanding its use of the RealView, LLC's CommandScope Pre-Plan technology to cover the 61-acre medical campus in nearby Maywood. This expansion underscores the school's commitment to creating a safe environment by providing critical campus and building information to first responders for use in times of emergency.
