Public Health Projects

Proactive Planning for Points of Dispensing (POD)

Crisis Preparedness Workshops

Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

Proactive Planning for Points of DispensingChallenge

Facing a possible pandemic in the near future, groups and organizations around Arizona were asking the same question: How would Arizona mass vaccinate thousands of people in a timely matter? With diseases that are time-sensitive, such as anthrax, the time it takes to disperse a vaccination is both crucial and critical to its impact. Various factors, such as staffing needs, resources and efficiency, are difficult to anticipate and test.

Solution

Decision Theater built a system powered by back-end data with a user-friendly front-end to help decision-makers understand the points of dispensing (POD) and the challenges they could expect. The participants learned about patient flow, time factors and multitude of resources that needed to come together. In addition, participants were able to manipulate different resources, run the model and see whether their setup was efficient and effective.

Results

Different cities and counties throughout Arizona utilized this exercise as an educational planning tool. Instead of dedicating significant resources and time toward running many different scenarios, users were able to manipulate data and numbers while seeing the results within minutes in relation to a 24-hour sequence.

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Identifying Planning Strengths and Weaknesses

Arizona School Preparedness Table Top Exercise

Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

Challenge

Should the H5N1 bird flu virus reach Arizona, it could rapidly spread across the local population through public schools. The Arizona Department of Health (ADHS) needed to look at how decision-makers would handle school closures, and specifically to test how public health and education officials in different counties would coordinate their efforts.

Solution

The Decision Theater, in collaboration with the College of Healthcare Management and Policy at the W. P. Carey School of Business, designed a multi-media exercise using interactive brainstorming sessions, rich data simulations, realistic TV news reports, and a geospatial map to track the disease spread. Officials from three counties, representing 4.3 million people, were invited to take part in the exercise.

Results

Participants soon realized that they needed to break out of a silo mentality and understand others’ plans. They quickly understood the implications that their decisions would have on mortality rates and the state’s economy when they shut down a school district. This exercise reinforced the need for public schools and county health officials to update their plans, and to collaborate across county lines when facing a pandemic.

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Pandemic Preparedness Exercise

Arizona State University

Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

Pandemic Preparedness ExerciseChallenge

A pandemic flu can wipe out large populations, severely stress emergency and health systems, and cause economic turmoil. What could an university do to prepare for such an event? How would it collaborate and coordinate efforts with several stakeholders, including university, city, state, emergency and health officials to reduce fatalities in the community and the state?

Solution

ASU’s Decision Theater and Campus Health Services conducted a pandemic preparedness exercise with participation from the Arizona Department of Health Services, Homeland Security Institute, local hospitals and police departments. Decision makers who comprised emergency operations, incident command and an executive policy group were presented with scenarios through fictional but realistic video newscasts and required to take action.

Results

Participants were able visualize and make sense of large amounts of data in a rapidly changing crisis. Teams learned to build rapport and trust. The scenario-based decision support tool, used in the Decision Theater’s rich-media environment, theoretically saves more than 70 lives.

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Creating Models to Explore Anatomy

The Brain

Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

Creating Models to Explore AnatomyChallenge

A project was undertaken to visualize the complexity of the human brain and demonstrate medical and scientific uses for such a model.

Solution

Arizona State University received 1,000 MRI scans from Harvard University which the Decision Theater used to create an immersive 3D image of the brain. Using commercial and custom programming, the model features a detailed depiction of blood vessels in the brain.

Results

This ongoing project is being used as a foundation to visualize other parts of the body and disease scenarios. This type of visual display of data allows for analysis in a different dimension.

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Supporting Public Health and Planning Analysis

Arizona Department of Health Services

Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

Supporting Public Health and Planning AnalysisChallenge

The West Nile Virus outbreak in Arizona infected 367 people in 2004, 83 people in 2005, and 73 people in 2006. The Arizona Department of Health Services wanted a tool to monitor the outbreak and analyze data to better understand how the disease spreads.

Solution

The Decision Theater created a 3D spatial modeling platform with a sophisticated geographical visualization interface for visual and statistical analysis of complex epidemiological data sets in real time.

Results

The Decision Theater and state health department are currently using this tool to analyze outbreak data for the 2006 WNV season. This project supports public health officials in determining what policies and mitigation strategies can increase public health and safety.

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