Bioterrorism Emergency Preparedness for Hospitals - Research Paper Example

Bioterrorism Emergency Preparedness for Hospitals The term bioterrorism can be used with reference to the act of intentionally releasing or disseminating of biological agents leading to health problems. The agents that are in most cases used in bioterrorism are virus toxins, or bacteria. These agents of bioterrorism can sometimes occur naturally or occur due to modifications made to them by human beings. Bioterrorism usually causesharmful effects to plants, animals and human beings. The arm that they cause can come in the form of illness or death. The agents usually exist naturally but the modifications that are always done to them can make them resistant to the existing medicine. The choice of this mode of terrorism can be advocated to the fact that the agents are not easily detected and in most cases the symptoms are not seen until after several hours or days. Given the nature of bioterrorism and its effect to the public there is a need for hospitals to come up with a measure that would make sure that they are ready for them at any time. This paper aims at discussing bioterrorism emergency preparedness for hospitals. In the United States of America the agents that are perceived to pose potential to the health and safety of the general population are referred to as select agents. For the hospitals to promptly respond to bioterrorism whenever there take place there need to be proper planning on the things that should be done to either avoid the occurrence or respond to the occurrences. Most biological defense strategies were meant to protect people in the army and not the general population. However, it has been observed in the recent past that there is a need for there to be measures taken by hospitals to make sure that they are always prepared for disasters that might arise from bioterrorism that might affect the general population in large masses. Figure 1: shows categories of bioterrorism agents They need to be prepared for the occurrence of bioterrorism is enhanced by the ease of obtaining a bioterrorism agent. At the moment there is a need for there to be a detection system that will enable the healthcare sector to be able to detect such occurrences before they are spread to large masses. However, since the development of such a system cannot be said to have been successful, it is important for hospitals and the healthcare sector in general to make sure that they have in place some preparation for the occurrence of such calamities. One thing that hospitals should make sure that they do is training their personnel on how to handle theaffected masses during the bioterrorism attacks. An important part of emergency response is being able to diligently and effectively handle the pressure and unique requirements that are always brought about by different calamities. The same would apply to bioterrorism. It would be impossible for a hospital to take care of bioterrorism casualties resulting from a bioterrorist attack if their personnel have minimal or no training at all with regard to handling such cases. Therefore, this will imply that hospitals need to take their personnel, if not all but some through training and capacity building programs that will make sure that they can at least be able to respond to the casualties whenever there is a bioterror attack. This will imply that they will be having the right skills and attitude to effectively attend to the casualties from such incidents. Another thing that hospitals should make sure that they do in ensuring their readiness to for bioterror related calamities is improving their surge capacity. This is because there is a possibility of their facilities being overwhelmed by casualties that might arise from bioterror attacks. For instance, they might think about having deployable medical capacity. In this line they should be considering their material, equipment, and pharmaceuticals that can be needed in responding to the surge requirements that might arise from the occurrence of bioterror attacks. By doing so hospitals will be making sure that they are in a position to effectively attend to the terror attack casualties anytime such incidents take place. Hospitals should also make sure that they have in place emergency response teams that can help in case a bioterror attack takes place. Such units should comprise of individuals who are paid to do so and volunteers. This is because having all the members of such groups being paid individuals can be quite costly to hospitals. On the other hand the members of such units should not be entirely volunteers because it might interfere with the accountability and effectiveness of such units. This is because sometimes it might be very hard to count on team members who are volunteers. The hospital should also make sure that the members of such units are employed on both full-time and part-time basis. This is in the bid to make sure that the institution does not have too many personnel working at a given time. Employing others on short full time basis is to make sure that there are always personnel in the institution that can attend to casualties in any case a bioterror takes place. On the otherhand, employing others on a part time basis will make sure that the other functionalities of the hospital are not paralyzed whenever there are bioterror attack casualties to be attended to at the hospital. The ultimate result will be the ability of responding to bioterror attack casualties without having to paralyze the other activities that the hospital involves in. Whenever there is a bioterror attack in the country, there are always legal implications that are involved with the response to the attack. For instance, law enforcement agencies always work in trying to investigate the source and trying to find out the people who are at risk. The hospital should be ready to work with the law enforcement agencies in making sure that they achieve these goals. For instance, there might be a need for them to interview some of the patients who might be brought to the hospital during the outbreak. They should cooperate with the law enforcement agencies for the sake of those that are already affected and those who are at risk of getting the infection. They should also be ready to avail relevant information to the law enforcement agencies for there to be effective productive cooperation between them and these agencies. Hospitals should also make sure that they educate their patients and the general public about how they can be able to know whenever there is a bioterror attack. This can only be possible if there is a program put in place that will let their patients and the general public aware of the symptoms that they should be watchful to in terms of posterior. This will help them in getting information about an outbreak as soon as it takes place through this they will be able to respond to the casualties of the calamities before it gets to a point where they cannot respond to medical attention. This will also help them in curbing further spread of the outbreak. The information given to the public will also help them in knowing what to do and what they should not do whenever there is a terror attack. This will make it easier for them to offer medical attention during such situations. When contamination is recognized on patient being transported via the public safety there should be assurance that the patients are approximately decontaminated to prior transport, that their clothing is controlled in sealed bags. Hospitals are assumed to be planning to provide decontamination to those victims who arrive alive to their facility and carry with them some secondary contamination from a release scene. However facilities are needed to plan on suiting for at least one person dealing with an ambulatory casualty. However back up personnel should be available for any emergencies with equipment or health issues that would be required for any emergency. Some health materials cannot be transferred easily, for example gloves, suits and booties. Patient care should be taken when using cartridge that are waterproof, as this will inactivate the charcoal filter and render unusable. The suits the suits radiology that leads apron is effective against radiation. Hospitals should have storage divers for safety to ensure control of radioactive that may occur during detonation. Hospitals may want to consider having radiation badges immediately available to their personnel that are available. Patient recommendation should be at level C minimum protection that is required. Based on this the existing equipment or the institutional requirement at level B is also acceptable. Canisters should provide HEPA filtration, and protection against organic vapor and acid gases at a minimum. The Minneapolis Medical Response System should be felt that the 3M breathe respirator with butyl rubber that hood casters that always provides the best protection against some of the organic vapors for example methylamine, acid gases, chloride dioxide, ammonia, and filter at the HEPA level which are also effective on military testing against mustard, riot control agents, and acid gases that also relates to agents. There is a difference between Level C and Level B is the durability of the suits and the impermeability of various chemicals. Whoever hospitals should be determined on which level of protection that they require and which is based on a threat analysis. The use of manufacturing breakthrough on testing data is helpful in assessing the amount of protection that is offered. Most suis should offer appropriate awareness and protection of the product lines that are advised. Average people should take an XL suit at the smallest. Smaller suits have a tendency to tear out in the crotch when a squat is performed. Figure 2: Medical personel wearing protection suits during bioterror investigation Whoever Tyvek SL that offers moderate on general protection in the majority of chemical agents which include mustard and nerve agents. Moreover, durability is an issue which is resistant to many organic agents that is limited, Tychem F offers protection against nerve and other terrorist agents, its industrial chemical resistance is moderately better than the SL. Tychem F offers protection against the nerves and other terrorist agents and its industrial chemical resistance which is moderately better than the SL. It is slightly heavy and its more tear resistant than SL. This may be good to balance of weight with highest protection for the healthcare decontamination setting. The heavy butyl over gloves and thinner Nitrile inner gloves that offer protection against a broad range of agents and that are not expensive. The cuffs should be long enough to reach the 2 inches above the sleeve cuff. Prolonged contact with halogenated hydrocarbons, for example the carbon tetrachloride may be in a situation when their use is to be justified. Nitrile does not provide the significant protection at a higher concentration. The gloves are also available from multiple safety sources as it under booties. The flocked butyl over gloves may be easier to don. Hospitals should also make sure that they organize and participate in emergency drills that might occur as a result of a bioterror attack. This is because of the professional skills and experience that they have that the other volunteers might not have. Through this they might be able to give the skills that the volunteer would not be able to provide. They can also be also to give the other participants education that will enable them to effectively take part in the process of offering help to the people who are affected by the bioterror attack. Through working together with the volunteers they will be able to make sure that they offer all the healthcare services that will be needed to make sure that all the victims get treated and those are not yet affected by the bioterror attack are safe from the attack. Hospitals should also make sure that they work together with lawmakers to make sure that law made with regard to responding to bioterror victims allow their effective involvement. When these laws are made they should be made in such a way that they do not hinder their prompt response. This can only be possible if they are involved in the law making process in such a way that the laws will be made in the perspective of the healthcare provision professionals. They in a better position to make sure that the laws will be made in such a way that they will enhance the effective provision of health care services to the victims during bioterror attacks. When bioterror attacks happen hospital should make sure that they make health and other risks involved in such cases available to the public. It will be easier for them to be of importance to the general public if the public had general information. This is because they will be well aware of the things that they should do and those that they are not supposed to do. This can go a long way in saving many lives and make sure that they are able to prevent further spreading of the calamities. They can only manage this if they make sure that their personnel have the skills and ability to properly communicate the information in question to the general public. Proper communication and interpersonal skill will be very important during such a period. It is clearly evident that bioterrorism is a threat to the modern healthcare provider sector. Therefore, there is a need for hospitals to always be ready for any of such occurrences. As shown in the paper there are a number of ways that hospitals can make sure that they are always prepared for such cases. It can, therefore, be concluded that the involvement of hospital in responding to bioterror victims is very vital. References McIsaac, J. H. (2006). Preparing hospitals for bioterror: A medical and biomedical systems approach. Amsterdam: Elsevier Academic Press. Heinrich, J., & United States. (2004). HHS bioterrorism preparedness programs: States reported progress but fell short of program goals for 2002. Washington, D.C: General Accounting Office. Borrelli, J. V. (2007). Bioterrorism: Prevention, preparedness and protection. New York: Nova Science. Read More