CBN Report: HHS Launches New Web Site to Guide Medical Care during a Mass Casualty Radiation Incident

By Luciana Borio, M.D., March 14, 2007

Last week, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Mike Leavitt announced the launch of a comprehensive Web site for health care professionals (primarily physicians) who may have to provide medical care during a radiation mass casualty incident. The site, Radiation Event Medical Management (REMM), is hosted by the National Library of Medicine at http://remm.nlm.gov.

Leavitt describes the Web site as, “an online toolkit for medical responses to radiation emergencies,” which includes “easy-to-follow procedures for diagnosis and management of radiation contamination and exposure, guidance for the use of radiation medical countermeasures, and a variety of other features to facilitate medical responses.”

The site was designed and developed through the collaborative effort of “subject matter experts from the HHS' Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, the National Institutes of Health's National Cancer Institute and National Library of Medicine and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

One nice feature of the site, which is fully loaded with information, is a quick link for new users entitled, "New Users: Where Do I Start? Initial Learning Objectives for New Users of REMM." Another nice feature is that the REMM files can be downloaded to users' computers, which means that the information on the site is accessible even without an Internet connection. Users may also elect to join the REMM LISTSERV for automatic updates.

For more information, see the HHS press release issued on March 8, 2007.

__________________

On another note: The Center for Biosecurity has updated and redesigned its web site. Please take a few minutes to visit and review the site and let us know what you think by filling out the brief survey that is accessible through the Feedback link that appears at the top of every page.