{"59964":{"#nid":"59964","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Program to Halt Pandemics Installed in Georgia","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EATLANTA\u003C\/strong\u003E (April 20, 2006) * Your city has    48 hours to vaccinate every man, woman and child to prevent a dangerous pandemic.   Where do you put the clinics, how many health care workers will you need and   how do you get 2 million people to a finite number of emergency clinics?\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe logistics of handling all those panicked people, health care workers,   vaccinations, clinics and forms are dizzying. And while health departments   have plans in place, it\u0027s very difficult to know how well those plans   will perform when time is critical and the minutes needed to move patients   to a large clinic or for a frightened patient to fill out a form could mean   life or death for thousands or millions of people.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E   Now researchers at Georgia Tech have developed a computer program, based on   a clinical model created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention   (CDC), to help U.S. state, city and county health care departments create and   test more efficient plans for treating infectious illness, whether it\u0027s   a natural or man-made outbreak.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E   The program, called RealOpt and created by Dr. Eva Lee, an associate professor   of industrial and systems engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology,   will be installed over the next few months at health departments across the   state of Georgia and health departments in 35 other states have plans   to test the program. While the program is still in the testing phase, it will   soon be available free to any government health department that requests it   from Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E   RealOpt has been tested by the DeKalb County Health Department in Georgia,   and the county ran a very successful anthrax drill last year. Lee used RealOpt   to help DeKalb test and improve its existing bioterror preparedness plan.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E   RealOpt takes the numerous variables associated with a health care department\u0027s   treatment of a very large group of people, and through large-scale simulation   and optimization (even considering variables such as panic and language barriers),   pinpoints the most efficient way to move patients to and through a facility.   Using the program, a health care department can determine the best location   for emergency clinics based on population density and road accessibility, the   most efficient facility layout, the number of health care professionals needed   in certain areas, the number of vaccinations needed and the time it will take   to treat patients.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E   RealOpt can be used to prepare for a possible outbreak, as well as for emergency   re-assignment of health care workers within the clinic and between clinics   during an actual outbreak. By being able to assess preparedness, health departments   will have more a precise estimate of the resources and funds needed to treat   communities before an actual outbreak.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E   In addition to its role in planning, one of RealOpt\u0027s significant advantages   is its ability to process data in real time as the emergency treatment occurs.   As patient flows fluctuate, the program can determine how to reallocate the   facility\u0027s resources in a fraction of a second, sending more doctors   or nurses to one station or more attendants to the paperwork processing area.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E   \u0022Rapid analysis of scenarios not only allows for large-scale planning   and preparedness, but also allows on-the-spot optimization to maintain the   best resource allocation over time,\u0022 Lee said. \u0022As patients enter   and progress through the clinic we can observe the flow and dynamically adjust   the configuration as needed. This is also critical for response to catastrophic   events, for example, if one treatment site collapses.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E   RealOpt also includes an automated facility-layout drawing tool that allows   health care workers to design and analyze their own clinic layout in response   to various emergency situations, such as anthrax, smallpox, flu pandemic or   natural disaster.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E   Lee continues to add to RealOpt\u0027s capabilities, and is currently adding   a disease propagation component to the system. The addition would help to analyze   the disease\u0027s spread within treatment sites and possible ways to halt   or minimize the spread. It will also determine how to redirect patients should   one center need to be quarantined or closed to prevent further spread of a   disease.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"27279","created_gmt":"2006-04-20 00:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:07:03","author":"Barbara Christopher","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2006-04-20T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2006-04-20T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"1242","name":"School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISYE)"}],"categories":[{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cstrong\u003EBarbara Christopher\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIndustrial and Systems Engineering\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=bt3\u0022\u003EContact Barbara Christopher\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404.385.3102\u003C\/strong\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["bchristopher@isye.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}