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SPRING 2008 |
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Online Only
C M A N E W S
Over 50 000
clinicians in CMA's new emergency database
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Stock Photo |
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After almost two years of
development, the CMA has created a tool it hopes it never has to use.
The new emergency-contact database will allow rapid communication with
over 50,000 active clinicians in the event of a national crisis such as
a pandemic.
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By CMA Staff |
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After almost two years of development,
the
CMA has created a tool it hopes it never has to use.
The new emergency-contact database,
developed with help from its divisions and medical regulatory bodies,
will allow rapid communication with over 50,000 active clinicians in the
event of a national crisis such as a pandemic.
The potential need for such a tool became
clear during the SARS outbreak in 2003. Because of the ongoing danger
posed by this type of pandemic threat, the CMA received a grant from the
Public Health Agency of Canada in 2006 to help it develop the database.
When the project began, the CMA had
untested electronic contact data for about 36,000 members. By the time
it wrapped up in December 2007, the number of clinicians with confirmed
data in the new Emergency Preparedness Communication (EPC) Database had
grown to 50,572. (The database is maintained separately from the CMA's
membership list and can only be used for emergency purposes. The names
of medical students, retired doctors and residents are not included.)
CMA President Brian Day says the database
will be a “valuable resource in our emergency preparedness and response
arsenal.” The CMA will be responsible for maintaining it, and emergency
contact information will be requested in information packages given to
new members and in membership renewal forms.
The new list can only be accessed
following a request by the federal government, a provincial/territorial
medical association, or the CMA. Requests will be assessed by a working
group to ensure that urgent contact with doctors is required and that
the information to be forwarded is relevant.
Day praised the co-operation of provincial
and territorial associations, as well as regulatory bodies. “That
co-operation is what made this possible,” he said. – CMA News
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