Table 3 Search Strategies

CINAHL

("public health") AND (doctors OR physicians OR nurses OR pharmacists OR veterinarians OR "healthcare providers" OR "health care providers" OR surveillance) AND (communication OR "emergency communication" OR "disease event" OR "health alert" OR "public health alert" OR "emergency alert") AND (emergency OR disaster OR terrorism OR pandemic OR preparedness OR response OR "disease outbreak")

MEDLINE

INSPEC

("public health" OR "emergency services" OR "emergency preparedness" OR "emergency planning" OR "surveillance activity" OR "emergency response") AND alert

Web of Science

("public health" AND (doctors OR physicians OR nurses OR pharmacists OR veterinarians OR "healthcare providers" OR "health care providers" OR surveillance) AND (communication OR "response capacity" OR "emergency communication" OR "disease event" OR "health alert" OR "public health alert" OR "emergency alert") AND (emergency OR disaster OR terrorism OR pandemic OR preparedness OR response))

Snowball technique

hand-searching article references, related records, tables of contents of pertinent journals

Grey Literature

AHRQ

"public health" AND "emergency preparedness" AND alert

CDC

"public health" AND "emergency preparedness" AND "emergency communication"

GPO Access

"public health" AND providers* AND communication AND emergency

National Academies Press

"public health" AND terrorism AND alert

NLM Gateway

"public health" AND "bidirectional communication" AND "health alert"

RAND

"public health" AND disaster AND providers* AND alert

RWJ publications

www.google.com

www.scirus.com

[*providers also listed individually by provider type, e.g., nurses, etc.]