Hospital Emergency Preparedness

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Recommended: Emergency preparedness plan for hospitals

In the event of major emergency hospitals themselves have two main missions: provide patient care and protect their staff and facility (American Hospital Assoc). Hospitals and other healthcare related facilities are expected to respond in a coordinated fashion, since hospitals play an important role in disaster response due the treatment role. Healthcare facilities are responsible for preventing and reducing the spread of disease as well as injuries (Heide). Hospital preparedness has become a focus of local, state, and federal governments seeking to address emergencies or disasters that affect the public health. Integral to hospital emergency preparedness are numerous legal challenges the healthcare industry faces during a declared state of emergency (Hodge et al).

Laws at all levels of government define what constitutes a state of emergency, disaster, or public health emergency. They authorize emergency actions on how to improve individual and communal health. They guide health facilities and workers in how to alter practices during emergencies (Hodge et al).

The Department of Homeland Security has devoted significant expertise and resources to support hospital emergency preparedness. Homeland Security’s National Incident Management System (NIMS) requires hospitals receiving funds to adopt standards consistent with their emergency plan. The Pandemic and All-Hazards Act of 2006 authorizes the Department of Health and Human Services to withhold emergency preparedness funds from hospitals that do not meet certain benchmark requirements. The Emergency Services Act authorizes the Governor during a “state of emergency” to suspend any regulatory statute, or statute prescribing the procedure for conduct of State business, o...

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...aster Circumstances

Finan, Sean, Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell, and Berkowitz PC Birmingham. Disaster Preparedness: Legal Issues Faced by Hospitals in the Post Katrina Environment. November 2006. Vol 3.

Hodge JD, LLM, James, Garcia JD, Andrea, Anderson JD, Evan, and Kaufman, Torrey. Emergency Legal Preparedness for Hospitals and Health care Personnel

Homeland Security. www.homelandsecurity.com Accessed Nov 2011.

Joint Advisory Committee on Communications Capabilities of Emergency Medical and Public Health Care Facilities. Report to Congress February 2008

Rubin, Jeffrey. 2004. Recurring Pitfalls in Hospitals and Response.

Sauer MS, Lauren, McCarthy ScD, Melissa, Knebel RN, Ann, and Brewster BS, Peter. 2009. Major Influences on Hospital Emergency Management and Disaster Preparedness

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books

www.jointcommission.org

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