Kristine M. Gebbie

Lecture from the 2005 Public Health Institute, May 27, 2005

Kristine Gebbie, DrPH, RN is an Associate Professor of Nursing; Director of the Center for Health Policy; and the Director of the Doctor of Nursing Science program at Columbia University School of Nursing.

Synopsis: Being Best at Preparing for the Worst

From vast state agencies to two-person clinics, every public health organization must have a defined, executable, and practiced emergency preparedness plan in place, said Kristine Gebbie.

Gebbie, who works in nursing and health policy at Columbia University, is a national expert on emergency preparedness. She recently advised the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on defining core competencies that would help mobilize the agency in the face of natural disaster, disease outbreak, or bioterrorist attack.

The bedrock of any preparedness plan must be to define the competencies of every public health worker, said Gebbie. From that list of competencies comes job action sheets—which define the primary role of each employee during an emergency, including where it falls in the chain of command. “Your role may look similar to or very different than what you already do every day,” said Gebbie. “You may be pulled out of your regular chain of command to report to someone else”

Job action sheets allow a rotation of staffers to fill each role over the course of an emergency, rather than working people to the point of exhaustion or danger. “Think through shift lengths and assignments carefully,” said Gebbie. “If we become victims, we can’t help.”

Viewing the Program

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