Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 
 

Files

File List

Full text release has been delayed at the author's request until May 05, 2026

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

A reference framework for decision support in a public health emergency

Malloy, Samuel S
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2619-0995
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1713372335236373

Abstract Details

2024, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Environmental Science.
Despite significant investments in preparedness, decision making systems in the United States were largely unable to effectively navigate the scale, intensity, and extended duration of the COVID-19 pandemic. This dissertation offers a reference framework for organizational and technological decision support that can augment institutional capabilities in a crisis. It examines three unique stages of a decision support cycle: (1) course of action determination, including problem definition, identification of alternative interventions, and assessment of the tradeoffs between interventions; (2) agile and adaptive deployment of interventions, often under severe resource constraints and time pressure; and (3) active monitoring that seeks to understand the factors influencing the success or failure of interventions. The first decision support stage is examined through the Comprehensive Monitoring Team (CMT) model, which we developed to serve as a repeatable process for producing intelligence analysis in the crisis setting. The model is presented and explored through case studies of its implementation within a state government and a large public university. The second decision support stage is examined through our Flexible Adaptive Algorithmic Surveillance Testing (FAAST) model, which provides an analytical approach to balancing scarce resource allocation problems using bandit search algorithms. Building on a real-world pilot study of FAAST, a playbook is presented that can be used as a template for modifying and re-deploying the approach under a range of distinct circumstances in the future. Finally, the third decision support stage is examined through a concept for misinformation monitoring that we call the “Sentinel Node” approach, which provides a structured means of analyzing the complex online information ecosystem that influences behavior in a public health emergency. The tools themselves, as well as the principles underlying their design and application, collectively serve as the foundation of a decision support framework that can be quickly mobilized in the face of a future threat. The framework bridges theory and practice and illustrates how decision support can be created by repurposing, reorganizing, and redirecting existing capabilities. By reducing the activation energy required to generate and apply decision support, the framework provides a means for expanding adaptive capacity, which is the basis of system resilience.
Tanya Berger-Wolf (Advisor)
Ayaz Hyder (Committee Member)
Jeffrey Bielicki (Committee Member)
Mike Rayo (Committee Member)
Amy Fairchild (Committee Member)
204 p.
Environmental Health; Information Science; Public Health; Systems Design
adaptive capacity; resilience; public health preparedness and response

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Malloy, S. S. (2024). A reference framework for decision support in a public health emergency [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1713372335236373

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Malloy, Samuel. A reference framework for decision support in a public health emergency. 2024. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1713372335236373.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Malloy, Samuel. "A reference framework for decision support in a public health emergency." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2024. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1713372335236373

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1713372335236373
© 2024, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.