Building Relationships for Better Disaster Preparedness: A Network Analysis of a Novel Disaster Medicine and Public Health Ecosystem

To better prepare for natural disasters, public health emergencies, and large-scale combat operations that strain medical and public health resources, the National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health created a novel Joint Disaster Medicine and Public Health Ecosystem. This Ecosystem supports federal interagency need for rapid and steady-state national preparedness and response activities, including scientific research, operations, training, and education. By developing a collaborative partner network to leverage disaster medicine and public health expertise and capabilities, the Ecosystem aims to improve the efficiency with which the Nation prepares, responds, and learns from disaster health events. The evaluation of the Ecosystem is employing social network analysis (SNA) to assess progress towards a robust partner network and measure the structured connection and strength of collaboration between member organizations. This session will present initial evaluation findings and describe how SNA is being used to foster shared leadership and vision among Ecosystem members.

Alison Ng; Emily Post; Rachel Durnin; Kaitlin Lovett; Jeffrey Freeman