MPS Emergency Preparedness for Hospitals (clin)
Hospitals play a pivotal role in the disaster medical response setup. To prepare effectively for emergency situations, the entire operation requires a collaborative effort involving health care providers, local government and other agencies. Disasters can spawn a rapid increase in service demand, thereby stifling the operational capacity and safety of hospitals. According to Web.Mhanet, emergency preparedness and response resource should be placed to assist health care facilities plan, react to all hazards in a collaborative effort that includes hospitals, government and public health. Total preparedness can be achieved and maintained by formulating an effective non-stop cycle of planning, organizing,
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The incidents include natural disaster, explosive hazard, act of terrorism and nuclear, biological or chemical hazards. According to the National Academies of Sciences Engineering Medicine, chemical emergency usually occurs when a harmful chemical, with the potential to harm people is released. This could take various forms, including chemical spills, explosion and leaks. Injustices caused by explosions often vary depending on the agents used in the explosion and the scale. The injuries can range from shock to burns and hearing loss. The bioterrorism agents that can cause the activation of a hospital’s emergency system include plague, anthrax and smallpox. The agents can cause a serious outbreak of infection with risk of developing chronic illnesses and even …show more content…
Get a list of partners or people to contact in case of emergency
5. Work with other hospitals in view of coordinating disaster preparation
6. Know when the hospital’s command center and emergency operations plan can be activated
7. Familiarize yourself with the local incident management process and the SEMS, the State response system.
8. Identify and grow relationship with larger community response partners such as public health officials, law enforcement and EMS.
9. Attend hospital emergency preparedness meetings
10. Educate hospital’s staff on the hospitals disaster management plan and practice scheduled drills and exercises
11. Review the minutes of the hospital’s past emergency or safety management committee meeting
12. Review the hospitals Hazard Vulnerability Analysis for the patients. staff and community
Depending on the nature and scope of the disaster, hospitals require a reliable external support and supply line to effectively deal with emergency cases. The preparation can be hampered by a host of vulnerabilities, such as near capacity operation, deficient supply lines and external support and the growing need to reduce costs and focus of service
"FAQ: Disaster Recovery Planning for Health Care Data." SearchHealthIT. Ed. Anne Steciw. TechTarget, May 2012. Web. 12 Feb. 2014. .
In order to prevent or lessen the impact of a critical situation on the hospital and ensure appropriate level of se...
Emergency Preparedness and Response - Work with state and local authorities to respond quickly and effectively to emergencies.
There are many government, state, local and tribal agencies and organizations working together to resolve the aftermath of a massive wildfire. The following will discuss the responsibilities of a Hospital Incident Command Systems (HICS) which is at the forefront for caring and treating individuals and communities affected. The HICS ensures pre-planning, planning, evaluating, and testing of the system has been done prior to an incident (CDC, 2011). The first step when an incident occurs is the hospital needs to assess the situation. Some questions to ask include (CDC, 2011). What geographical area(s) has been or may be adversely impacted? How many people are threatened, affected, exposed, injured, or dead? Have critical infrastructures been affected (electrical power, water supplies, sanitation, telecommunications, transportation)? Is the hospital and surrounding healthcare facilities affected? How will current and forecasted weather conditions affect the situation? Has the local, state, or
In the event of a disaster, EMS and other professional must be prepared to come together and help each other provide care to help the victims and their families. EMS develops response plans, policies, and procedures that provides guidelines and prepares EMS for any emergencies that arise ("POSITIONING AMERICA’S EMERGENCY HEALTH CARE SYSTEM TO RESPOND TO ACTS OF TERRORISM."). Training makes perfect is what some people would say, Disaster EMS medicine also uses that saying as they test their disaster medical response plans through periodic exercises with the local, state and federal levels ("POSITIONING AMERICA’S EMERGENCY HEALTH CARE SYSTEM TO RESPOND TO ACTS OF TERRORISM.").Disaster EMS medicine includes many different departments from all over the world. Training is also now including the Viper system to allow communication from county to county and state to state in case of a catastrophic event that requires immediate action. 9/11 was a major terrorist attack that changed the world’s perspective and showed the world how unprepa...
The goals include increasing nurses’ awareness of their roles and responsibilities in preparing for and responding to a disaster. There are web-based courses available for professionals who are not necessarily planning to deploy to a disaster site but working in hospitals, schools or long-term care settings. These individuals could help with the long-range planning of patients involved in a disaster. The course is designed to protect the nurse and the public through the use of universal precautions, protective equipment, evidence collection and isolation precautions. These are areas that the emergency nurse may not consider when volunteering on the front line of a disaster (Stokowski, 2012). Other areas of the course include how to prepare for a disaster, who to notify when an event is unfolding, the assessment, diagnosing and treating of injuries and illnesses, incorporating clinical judgment skills, and supporting the community after the disaster (Orr,
Perry, R. W., & Lindell, M. K. (2007). Disaster Response. In W. L. Waugh, & K. Tiernery, Emergency Management: Principles and Practice for Local Government (pp. 162-163). Washington D.C.: International City/County Management Association.
Both man-made and natural disasters are often devastating, resource draining and disruptive. Having a basic plan ready for these types of disaster events is key to the success of executing and implementing, as well as assessing the aftermath. There are many different ways to create an emergency operations plan (EOP) to encompass a natural and/or man-made disaster, including following the six stage planning process, collection of information, and identification of threats and hazards. The most important aspect of the US emergency management system in preparing for, mitigating, and responding to man-made and natural disasters is the creation, implementation and assessment of a community’s EOP.
Haddow, G. D., Bullock, J. A., & Coppola, D. P. (2010).Introduction to emergency management. (4th ed., pp. 1-26). Burlington, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann.
The National response plan outlines four key actions the disaster coordinator should take. They are gaining and maintaining situational awareness, activate and deploy key resources and capabilities, coordinating response actions and demobilizing. Throughout the response it is essential that responders have access to critical information. During the initial response effort the situation is will change rapidly. Situational awareness starts at the incident site. For this reason it is essential that decision makers have access to the right information at the right time. By establishing an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) all key responders are brought ...
Threats from catastrophic natural and manmade disasters during the 21st century have unfortunately become a reoccurring reality among communities in the United States. Managing the various stages of any disaster requires responding entities to become familiar with each other’s roles and capabilities to facilitate successful interfacing and cooperation. Physical and web based emergency operations centers (WebEOCs), emergency response entities, and private and non-profit organizations are essential providers of operational emergency management information, all-hazardous intelligence, and other subject matter expertise. To ensure effective coordination takes place, emergency management leaders at all levels
Disaster Recovery Planning is the critical factor that can prevent headaches or nightmares experienced by an organization in times of disaster. Having a disaster recovery plan marks the difference between organizations that can successfully manage crises with minimal cost, effort and with maximum speed, and those organizations that cannot. By having back-up plans, not only for equipment and network recovery, but also detailed disaster recovery plans that precisely outline what steps each person involved in recovery efforts should undertake, an organization can improve their recovery time and minimize the disrupted time for their normal business functions. Thus it is essential that disaster recovery plans are carefully laid out and carefully updated regularly. Part of the plan should include a system where regular training occurs for network engineers and managers. In the disaster recovery process extra attention should also be paid to training any new employees who will have a critical role in this function. Also, the plan should require having the appropriate people actually practice what they would do to help recover business function should a disaster occur. Some organizations find it helpful to do this on a quarterly or semi-annual basis so that the plan stays current with the organization’s needs.
As public health professionals, community health nurses have a significant role to play in both disaster preparedness and response (Clark, 2008). Disaster preparation involves the public health personnel as a result of the knowledge of the community and its inhabitants. As public health personnel are knowledgeable of potential issues with patients and environment. Community nurses use their nursing process of assessing, diagnosing, planning, implementing, and evaluating. Prior to the disaster, the community is assessed by the nurse by identifying high risk residents like a ventilator dependent patients who would be affected by the loss of electricity. In addition, being aware which businesses or buildings can be damaged if a disaster should occur needs to be considered. For example, water treatment plant in Franklin County provided clean county water. It no longer has electricity and loss the ability to provide clean water. The publics’ water is at risk of contamination which easily harbor bacteria that lead to lead to epidemic like MRSA (Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus). The possibility lead to 3 point public announcement to ad...
Emergency management is often described in terms of “phases,” using terms such as mitigate, prepare, respond and recover. The main purpose of this assignment is to examine the origins, underlying concepts, variations, limitations, and implications of the “phases of emergency management.” In this paper we will look at definitions and descriptions of each phase or component of emergency management, the importance of understanding interrelationships and responsibilities for each phase, some newer language and associated concepts (e.g., disaster resistance, sustainability, resilience, business continuity, risk management), and the diversity of research perspectives.
The purpose of this paper is to discuss potential disasters that could affect a community and cause mass causalities. Further discussion will include who is responsible for the management preparedness, what barriers must be considered and finally this paper will discuss the health care facilities role in emergency supplies and care of the patient in a disaster situation.