Response to Amber Young

There is a strong link between emergency management and the field of public health. It is increasingly essential for professionals from these two fields to work together given the increased need to promote the safety of civilians, communities, and government. I agree with you that Healthcare Informatics would be a beneficial course to offer for emergency responders. The course provides a framework for integrating healthcare practices into emergency management and for the collaboration between professionals from these two fields. Insights obtained from this course demonstrate that emergency management is a much more complicated field. I believe that the future of public health preparedness and emergency response will be characterized by the increased use of technology (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018). In addition, you should have discussed how increased collaboration between public health professionals and emergency responders will characterize the future of emergency management.

Response to Courtney Lee

I concur that the future of public health preparedness and emergency response will be characterized by the increased use of technology. Emergency management will incorporate the increased of technological tools in surveillance measures. However, the increased use of technology will involve more than crowdsourcing and GIS. AI and big data will play an important role in future practices in public health preparedness and emergency response. As technology is expected to dominate the future of this discipline, Healthcare Informatics would be beneficial. I believe that Healthcare Informatics should be incorporated into future emergency management courses. This will help equip emergency responders with relevant knowledge to promote the increased integration of technology into emergency management. Therefore, technology will play a critical role in propelling emergency management forward.

Reference

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2018). Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities. Retrieved from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services website: https://www.cdc.gov/cpr/readiness/00_docs/CDC_PreparednesResponseCapabilities_October2018_Final_508.pdf