Health Secur. 2017 Jan-Feb;15(1):118-122. doi: 10.1089/hs.2016.0065.
A timely and effective response to public health threats requires a broad-reaching infrastructure. Children's hospitals are focused on evaluating and managing some of the most vulnerable patients and thus have unique preparedness and response planning needs. A virtual forum was established specifically for children's hospitals during the 2014-15 Ebola outbreak, and it demonstrated the importance and utility of connecting these specialty hospitals to discuss their shared concerns. Developing a successful children's hospital response network could build the national infrastructure for addressing children's needs in preparedness and response and for enhancing preparedness and response to high-consequence pathogens. Using the Laboratory Response Network and tiered-hospital network as models, a network of children's hospitals could work together, and with government and nongovernment partners, to establish and refine best practices for treating children with pathogens of public health concern. This network could more evenly distribute hospital readiness and tertiary pediatric patient care capabilities for highly infectious diseases across the country, thus reducing the need to transport pediatric patients across the country and increasing the national capacity to care for children infected with high-consequence pathogens.
及时有效地应对公共卫生威胁需要广泛的基础设施。儿童医院专注于评估和管理一些最脆弱的患者，因此有独特的准备和应对规划需求。在 2014-15 年埃博拉疫情期间，专门为儿童医院建立了一个虚拟论坛，该论坛展示了将这些专科医院联系起来讨论共同关注问题的重要性和实用性。建立一个成功的儿童医院应对网络可以为解决儿童在准备和应对方面的需求以及加强对高后果病原体的准备和应对建立国家基础设施。利用实验室反应网络和分层医院网络作为模型，儿童医院网络可以与政府和非政府合作伙伴合作，为治疗患有公共卫生关注病原体的儿童制定和完善最佳实践。该网络可以更均匀地在全国范围内分配高度传染性疾病的医院准备和三级儿科患者护理能力，从而减少在全国范围内运输儿科患者的需求，并提高全国照顾感染高后果病原体的儿童的能力。
