Instructions:

As was evident in this week's Grand Rounds video, SARS: When a Global Outbreak Hits Home, the abilities of public health leaders are particularly put to the test in crisis situations. In this Application, you are asked to identify and analyze the effectiveness of communication strategies demonstrated by leaders in public health crisis situations.

In a 2- to 3-page paper, address the following:

Analyze the public health communication during SARS crisis as depicted in the Grand Rounds video. What are five communication strategies you noticed? How well were they implemented? Do you think the communication could have been done better? Explain your answers.

Discuss an event you have seen in the news some time during the past several years in which leaders were asked questions and had to respond with crisis communication strategies. These are often weather related (e.g., floods, fires, other disasters) but can also be crime- or corruption-related stories that are in the media. If necessary, do Internet searches to refresh your memory or find out more about the ways in which the leader(s) communicated during your selected event.

Describe the crisis situation.

Assess the use of crisis communication strategies by the leaders. Which strategies were implemented? How well were these implemented? What strategies do you think they could have adopted to handle this situation better?