Preparedness of the Plzen Regional Emergency Rescue Service to a Highly Infectious Disease Incident.

The aim of the bachelor thesis is to evaluate the current preparedness of the Plzen Regional Emergency Rescue Service to a highly infectious disease incident. The topic of the thesis was chosen with regard to an increasing probability of occurrence and spreading of a highly infectious disease in Czech Republic. I decided to evaluate the situation of the Plzen Regional Emergency Rescue Service, because I am an employee of this organization and I live in the Plzen region. The theoretical part of the bachelor thesis focuses on the literature search and exploration of facts from legal rules and documents regulating the matter of highly infectious disease incidents and the characteristics of highly infectious diseases spreading through person-to-person contact. The practical part of the thesis assesses the availability of personal protective equipment for the emergency exit groups and for the specialized bio-hazard team dedicated to dealing with emergency situations in relation to highly infectious disease incidents. This part of thesis also evaluates the material resources and equipment, trainings of the specialized team, cooperation with the components of the Integrated Rescue System and with selected health care institutions. The practical part of the thesis also includes description of the Plzen Regional Emergency Rescue Service's internal documentation. The bachelor thesis contains in particular two improvement suggestions for two aspects related to the preparedness of the Plzen Regional Emergency Rescue Service to a highly infectious disease incident. Regarding the technical equipment, we suggest setting up a working team that should deal with specifying requirements for a call for tenders for a new ambulance car and a special transporting and isolating equipment for people. Regarding documentation, we suggest re-working of existing Bio-hazard team checklists. The director of the Plzen Regional Emergency Rescue Service supports the practical implementation of the bachelor thesis outputs in the organization. In this respect, the bachelor thesis has a practical impact on the employer of the author