Principal Faculty
Patricia L. Meinhardt, MD, MPH, MA
Executive Medical Director
Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine
Arnot Ogden Medical Center
Elmira, New York
Author of Physician Preparedness for Acts of Water
Terrorism: A Physician Online Readiness Guide and Recognizing Waterborne
Disease and the Health Effects of Water Pollution: A Physician
Online Reference Guide accessible at www.WaterHealthConnection.org
“I have no disclosures to make and no commercial support
was accepted by me for the development or maintenance of this CME
module.”
System Requirements
PC:
Hardware: Pentium III or compatible processor, 256 MB RAM
Operating System: Windows 2000, XP or Vista
Web browser: IE 5.5 or higher/ Netscape 4.7 or higher
Macintosh:
Hardware: G3 500 MHz processor and above, 256 MB RAM
Operating System: Mac OS 10.2 and above
Web browser: Safari 1.2 and above, IE 5.2
Media
Adobe Acrobat Reader may be needed in order to view some documents
listed on the website. The software is free and available at www.adobe.com/reader.
Physician Participation
In order to receive CME credits, participants must read each CME
chapter and then complete the corresponding post-tests and evaluation
forms.
CME Credits
The ACPM designates this educational activity for a maximum of
22.5 hours in Category 1 credits toward the AMA Physician's Recognition
Award. CME credit can be earned for the entire course OR for individual
sections. Estimated time to complete all available CME chapters
is 22.5 hours. The termination date of this CME module is July
15, 2012.
Contact Us
If you have questions regarding CME credits or this process, please
contact Jennifer Edwards, Director of Member Services and Development,
at jedwards@acpm.org.
If you experience any technical difficulties with this CME module
or website, please email us at webmaster@waterhealthconnection.org.
CME/MOC Learning Objectives
Section 1: Purpose of Physician Readiness Guide for Acts
of Water Terrorism (Max 3.0 CME/MOC Credit Hours)
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Understand the clinical challenges that complicate
the recognition and management of water-related diseases resulting
from exposure to waterborne Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)
agents as part of a terrorist assault on water reserves. |
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Describe the important role of healthcare practitioners as
critical "front-line responders" in detecting water-related
disease resulting from biological, chemical or radiological
terrorism. |
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Identify the essential need for healthcare providers to act
as risk communicators and critical stakeholders in emergency
preparedness and response planning for water terrorism. |
Section 2: Understanding the Threat of Water Terrorism
(Max 1.0 CME/MOC Credit Hours)
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Understand the potential vulnerabilities of water
systems in the United States to terrorist threats. |
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List the potential points of contamination in the US water
system network that healthcare providers must keep in mind
as possible sources of waterborne terrorism when evaluating
a suspected case of terrorism-related disease. |
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Identify the importance of collaborating with local and state
public health agencies and community water utilities when faced
with recognizing water-related disease from intentional contamination
of water. |
Section 3: Chemical, Biological, and Radiologic Agent
Dispersal and Multiple Exposure Pathways (Max 2.0 CME/MOC Credit
Hours)
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Recognize the multiple exposure pathways that
may be used for dispersal of chemical, biological, and radiologic
(CBR) agents during a terrorist attack including waterborne
exposure. |
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Identify several distinguishing features between chemical
and biological attacks using epidemiological features, animal
indicators, and environmental trends or devices. |
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Describe the importance of host susceptibility and vulnerable
population status during evaluation and management of patients
exposed to waterborne CBR agents during terrorist activity
that targets water. |
Section 4: Detection and Diagnosis of Waterborne Terrorism
(Max 3.5 CME/MOC Credit Hours)
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Understand the difficulty of monitoring chemical,
biological, and radiologic (CBR) agents in water using ONLY
environmental detection methods as a means of protecting the
public's health. |
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List the epidemiologic patterns and sentinel clues that may
indicate CBR agent exposure and terrorism-related illness in
a population resulting from water terrorism or other exposure
sources. |
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Describe the importance of using syndromic surveillance as
a critical tool for recognizing terrorism-related disease and
intentional contamination of water as part of a terrorist event. |
Section 5: Evaluation and Management of Disease Resulting
from CBR Agents (Max 2.0 CME/MOC Credit Hours)
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Explain the clinical challenges of diagnosing
waterborne disease in patients exposed to chemical, biological,
and radiologic (CBR) agents dispersed in water. |
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Describe the importance of communicating, collaborating,
and coordinating with public health authorities when evaluating
all cases of water-related terrorism in order to protect the
public's health. |
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Understand the risk of indirectly contaminating water reserves
subsequent to patient decontamination procedures for exposure
to biological, chemical, and radiologic terrorism. |
Section 5.1: Evaluation and Management of BIOLOGICAL
AGENTS (Max 1.5 CME/MOC Credit Hours)
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Explain the clinical difficulties of accurately
diagnosing water-related disease resulting from intentional
contamination of water with biological agents. |
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List the bacterial pathogens and parasitic pathogens of public
health concern that may be transmissible through water as part
of a terrorist assault and the resources available to diagnose
and manage these diseases. |
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Describe the viral, rickettsial, and rickettsial-like pathogens
of public health concern that may be transmissible through
water as part of a terrorist assault and the resources available
to diagnose and manage these diseases. |
Section 5.2: Evaluation and Management of BIOLOGICAL
TOXINS (Max 2.0 CME/MOC Credit Hours)
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Describe the unique characteristics and toxicologic
features that make biological toxins attractive biological
warfare weapons and effective contaminants in water. |
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List the bacterial biotoxins and fungal-derived biotoxins
(mycotoxins) of public health concern that may be transmissible
through water as part of a terrorist assault and the resources
available to diagnose and manage resultant disease. |
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Describe the plant, algae-derived, and marine biotoxins of
public health concern that may be transmissible through water
as part of a terrorist assault and the resources available
to diagnose and manage resultant disease. |
Section 5.3: Evaluation and Management of CHEMICAL AGENTS
(Max 3.0 CME/MOC Credit Hours)
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Describe the unique characteristics and toxicologic
features that make chemical warfare agents and routine industrial
and agricultural compounds effective contaminants in water. |
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List the chemical warfare agents including nerve, incapacitating,
blood, and vesicant and skin blistering agents of public health
concern that may be transmissible through water as part of
a terrorist assault and the resources available to diagnose
and manage resultant disease. |
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Describe the industrial and agricultural chemical compounds
of public health concern that may be transmissible through
water as part of a terrorist assault and the resources available
to diagnose and manage resultant disease. |
Section 5.4: Evaluation and Management of RADIOLOGIC
AGENTS (Max 3.0 CME/MOC Credit Hours)
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Describe the unique clinical challenges and public
health consequences resulting from a radiologic terrorism attack
and the potential for both direct and indirect contamination
of water. |
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List three radiation terrorism threat scenarios and the types
of disseminated radioactive materials that would be disseminated
in a targeted community that potentially could contaminate
water. |
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Describe the potential exposure pathways resulting from a
radiologic terrorism event that may include a waterborne route
of exposure and the nuclear agent sources that give rise to
each type of exposure. |
Section 6: Clinician Role in Risk Communication and Community
Readiness (Max 1.5 CME/MOC Credit Hours)
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Understand the importance of the clinician's
role in local preparedness and community readiness and response
for acts of water terrorism. |
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Recognize the need for a coordinated response to acts of
water terrorism that is based upon cooperation among a multidisciplinary
team of healthcare providers, public health and water utility
practitioners, law enforcement professionals, and community
leaders. |
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Describe the critical role that healthcare providers play
as risk communicators in community terrorism preparedness and
response plans in order to protect the public's health during
and after intentional contamination of water as part of a terrorist
event. |
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