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NM DOH All Hazard Incident Management Glossary
Intro | A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W XYZ Sources
Download: NMDOH_IM_Glossary_May_2008 
PAPR – Positive Air Pressure Respirator
Papule – a small, circumscribed, solid elevation on the skin.
Paramedic - a practitioner credentialed by a state to function at the advanced life support level in the state EMS system.
Particulate Matter – airborne materials that can, depending on their size and composition, lodge in various areas of the respiratory tract.
Passive Immunization – the protection of an individual against infectious disease by the injection of pre-formed immune factors. Passive immunity wanes as the injected immune factors are broken down over time. (Contrast with active immunization).
Pathogen – an agent or organism that can cause disease.
PCR – Polymerize chain reaction
Pesticide Poisoning – toxic effects of unprotected contact with a pesticide.
PHD – Public Health Division (NMDOH)
PHEPRAC – Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Advisory Council; advisory body to New Mexico’s CDC and HRSA bioterrorism emergency preparedness programs. (NM)
PHERA – Public Health Emergency Response Act (NM)
PHIN – Public Health Information Network - standards providing the basis for information technology projects for CDC-funded programs including NEDSS, HAN, and others.
PHTN – Public Health Training Network - the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's distance learning system that uses instructional media ranging from print-based to videotape and multimedia to meet the training needs of the public health workforce nationwide.
Point of Exposure – path through which one is exposed or comes into contact with a substance present in the environment.
POD – Point of Dispensing site
Potassium Iodide – potassium iodide is a nonprescription drug for use as a “blocking agent” to prevent the human thyroid gland from absorbing radioactive iodine.
ppb – parts per billion.
PPE – Personal Protective Equipment
pip – parts per million
Preliminary Damage Assessment – a mechanism used to determine the impact and magnitude of damage and the resulting unmet needs of individuals, businesses, the public sector, and the community as a whole.
Preparedness – the range of deliberate, critical tasks and activities necessary to build, sustain, and improve the operational capability to prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from domestic incidents. Preparedness is a continuous process. Preparedness involves efforts at all levels of government and between government and private-sector and nongovernmental organizations to identify threats, determine vulnerabilities, and identify required resources. Within the NIMS, preparedness is operationally focused on establishing guidelines, protocols, and standards for planning, training and exercises, personnel qualification and certification, equipment certification, and publication management.
Preparedness Organizations – the groups and fora that provide interagency coordination for domestic incident management activities in a nonemergency context. Preparedness organizations can include all agencies with a role in incident management, for prevention, preparedness, response, or recovery activities. They represent a wide variety of committees, planning groups, and other organizations that meet and coordinate to ensure the proper level of planning, training, equipping, and other preparedness requirements within a jurisdiction or area.
Prevalence – the number of existing disease cases in a defined population at specific time point in time, expressed as a rate.
Prevalence Survey – the measure of the current level of disease(s) or symptoms and exposures through a questionnaire that collects self-reported information from a defined population.
Prevention (clinical) – actions that reduce exposure or other risks, keep people from getting sick, or keep disease from getting worse.
Prevention (emergency management) – actions to avoid an incident or to intervene to stop an incident from occurring. Prevention involves actions to protect lives and property. It involves applying intelligence and other information to a range of activities that may include such countermeasures as deterrence operations; heightened inspections; improved surveillance and security operations; investigations to determine the full nature and source of the threat; public health and agricultural surveillance and testing processes; immunizations, isolation, or quarantine; and, as appropriate, specific law enforcement operations aimed at deterring, preempting, interdicting, or disrupting illegal activity and apprehending potential perpetrators and bringing them to justice.
Primary Agency – A "Primary Agency" (sometimes mistakenly referred to as a "Lead Agency,") as used in the 1999 New Mexico All Hazards Emergency Operations Plan is that agency charged with a specific responsibility for an emergency function during a response. Assignation of primary agency is based around an agency's ongoing mission and statutory authority. It does not imply that a given agency is charged with the overall coordination or response in or to an emergency resulting from a specific cause. For example, in a mass casualty incident, such as a large airliner crash, the coordination of the medical function aspects and mortuary needs of the response would be charged to the Department of Health as the Primary Agency for Annex 5 - Health Medical, and Mortuary. However, overall direction, control, and coordination of the incident is charged to the Department of Public Safety - OEM as the Primary Agency of Annex 1 - Direction and Control Likewise, coordination of additional transportation needs would be performed by the New Mexico Department of Transportation as the Primary Agency of Annex 8 - Transportation.
It is important to view the response to emergencies and disasters as a whole, and individual annexes of the Emergency Operations Plan as functions of the response. They cannot be considered individually or in isolation. Each plan builds on the others and all branch from the Basic Plan.
Private Sector – organizations and entities that are not part of any governmental structure. It includes for-profit and not-for-profit organizations, formal and informal structures, commerce and industry, and private voluntary organizations (PVO).
Processes – systems of operations that incorporate standardized procedures, methodologies, and functions necessary to provide resources effectively and efficiently. These include resource typing, resource ordering and tracking, and coordination.
Promotora – lay community health advisor; in New Mexico, primarily located in Hispanic communities
Prophylaxis – early intervention before a condition is fully established.
Prostration – a marked loss of strength, as in exhaustion.
Protocol - A set of standardized procedures, or a set of conventional principles and expectations that are considered binding, or a set of guidelines or rules that help in governing an operation
Public Health – organized efforts of society to protect, promote, and restore people's health. It is the combination of science, skills, and beliefs that is directed to the maintenance and improvement of the health of all the people through collective or social actions. The programs, services and institutions involved emphasize the prevention of disease and the health needs of the population as a whole. Public health activities change with variations in technology and social values but the goals remain the same: to reduce the amount of disease, premature death, and disease-produced discomfort and disability in the population. Public health is thus a social institution, a discipline, and a practice.
Public Health Advisory – a statement made by ATSDR to EPA or a state regulatory agency that a release of hazardous substances poses an immediate threat to human health. The advisory includes recommended measures to reduce exposure and reduce the threat to human health.
Public Health Emergency - occurrence or imminent threat of exposure to an extremely dangerous condition or a highly infectious or toxic agent, including a communicable disease, that poses in imminent threat of substantial harm to the population, or any portion thereof. In general, a public health emergency is one that requires a population-based approach. Examples of public health emergencies may include a natural outbreak of an infectious disease, i.e., influenza, Hantavirus, meningitis, salmonella, etc., intentionally caused biological threats such as smallpox, anthrax, and some accidents involving hazardous materials that threaten the health of the population. Public health emergencies can also be or evolve into medical emergencies. Likewise, medical emergencies can develop to an extent that they affect the population’s health, and by definition, become public health emergencies. Response to public health emergencies will be led by the Department of Health with assistance by local and State emergency management.
Public Health Official – Secretary of Health (NMDOH) or designee, including a qualified public individual or group or a qualified private individual or group, as determined by the Secretary of Health.
Public Regulation Commission (NM)
Push Package – a large shipment of medical supplies and pharmaceuticals sent from the Strategic National Stockpile to a state undergoing an emergency within 12 hours of federal approval of a request by the state’s Governor.
Pustule – an elevation of the cuticle with an inflamed base, containing pus.
