Today's Jails : medical services

Bio terrorism-Pandemic Flu Preparedness Still Critical

Peggy L. Ritchie — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 22:36:00 GMT

The Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office recently sponsored their 2006 annual conference in Washington, DC. A workshop titled "Responding to Bio terrorism and Pandemic Threats" was presented and will soon be posted on the COPS website. For general information on this workshop link to the National Criminal Justice Reference Service Resource Update to find out what the experts are saying about:

Need for transparency with the public and the media
Delaware's Department of Homeland Security's experience
Clearly delineated command systems and more...
John Barson's presentation and more at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Emergency Response Information

For related resources, see also NIC's web page addressing pandemic planning in corrections.

It's Probably Not a Spider Bite

Sandy Schilling — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 23:51:00 GMT

Suspect Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus (MRSA). A few years ago, I received a call asking about spider bites in jails. I didn't know about MRSA then, but now I realize it is sometimes originally mistaken as "spider bites". According to an article in the New England Journal of Medicine, "MRSA is the most common identifiable cause of skinand soft-tissue infections among patients presenting to emergencydepartments in 11 U.S. cities." This has become such a prevelant issue that the National Institute of Corrections has information and resources relating to the treatment and containment of MRSA. For your health care personnel, The Federal Bureau of Prisons has Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureaus (MRSA) Infections.