Monday, June 2, 2003

WRITER: Kimberly Carlyle, 706/583-0913, kosborne@uga.edu
CONTACT: Cham Dallas, 706/542-5412, cdallas@mail.rx.uga.edu

UGA COLLEGE OF PHARMACY DEVELOPS FIRST
WMD PHARMACY PRACTICE ROTATION IN UNITED STATES

ATHENS, Ga. – The first pharmacy practice rotation in weapons of mass destruction (WMD) medical response in the United States has been developed for students at the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy. The first 18 students graduated from this program in spring 2003.

Pharmacy students, who are required to complete four rotations in various specialty areas of pharmacy before they receive their degrees, completed this program with UGA and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Center for Domestic Preparedness. Students also received federal certification in WMD preparedness.

"In today’s volatile world climate, the need for this pharmacy specialty is very strong," said Cham Dallas, director of the Center for Leadership in Education and Applied Research in Mass Destruction Defense (CLEARMADD) at UGA’s College of Pharmacy. "This is the only rotation of its kind in the nation. The interest from students in the rotation is very high, and the interest from employers is even higher."

Students spend the rotation training for disaster scenarios they might encounter if they were involved in a WMD event. The specialty teaches students how to manage mass inoculations, including training other medical personnel to administer vaccines. Wearing biohazard suits, the students are trained in the presence of live nerve agents to become familiar with this kind of hazardous medical environment. They also practice triage scenarios dealing with mass casualties and learn to handle the "worried well," people who are not sick, but who are likely to visit medical facilities in a crisis.

Positions requiring this training are growing among federal and state government agencies like the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile Program, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as well as a variety of organizations within each of the states, said Dallas.

"In large-scale terrorist attacks, we will not have enough trained medical personnel to handle the massive casualties expected," said Dallas. "Properly trained pharmacists will be desperately needed both in mass pharmaceutical distributions and in the successful medical response.

With a focus on the specialty areas of pharmacy, emergency medicine and veterinary medicine, CLEARMADD is one of eight Centers for Disease Control Specialty Centers for Public Health Preparedness. The mission of CLEARMADD is to reduce the casualties and social disruption in WMD events by preparing the health care professionals that will encounter the unique and unprecedented circumstances in domestic WMD attacks.

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