Hospital Emergency Operations Plan - Essay Example

University of Toledo Medical Center Hospital Emergency Operations Plan Introduction For normal operations at the University of Toledo Medical center Hospital, a strategy for handling disasters or emergencies should be put in place. This strategy should be continuously reviewed to ensure effective disaster response (Drabek, 1991). The plan provides the health facility with an appropriate procedure for effectively handling external and internal disasters which can negatively impact on the health care environment (Bob, 2008). Disaster Procedures for Staff Members In a disaster or emergency environment, all the hospital staffs and the appropriate Medical Center staffs are considered very important in the hospital’s operations. The hospital employs the Hospital Incident Command System (HICS) in managing essential hospital services and allocating basic responsibilities to staffs in emergency response. Usually, the hospital staffs perform disaster response duties which are in line with their normal basic responsibilities. The HICS outlines basic responsibilities of key personnel. The Incident Commander ensures overall direction of disaster operations, through coordination and documentation of response procedures and activities. Safety and Security Officer is in charge of ensuring scene security through monitoring access. The Liaison Officer works with external organizations towards a collective response to the disaster. The Public Information Officer is responsible for managing the Information Center, so as to give official disaster response information to the media (Knouss, 2001). Medical specialist provides technical expertise required in disaster response. The Executive Leadership comprises Head of Departments which are directly affected by the disaster. Logistics Chief ensures adequate supply operations necessary for disaster response. Financial Chief ensures enough financial resources are available for the disaster response. The Planning Chief ensures that an action plan is in place for guiding the disaster response operations. All the hospital staffs should be the Medical Centre Identification badges. Alternative Clinic Sites The emergency plan for the hospital has guidelines for facility evacuation. Facility evaluation is undertaken when the present environment cannot adequately ensure patient treatment or care. The University of Toledo Medical center (UTMC) is a component of the University of Toledo Health Science campus; which has several buildings, hospitals, and health sites. All the buildings are interconnected aboveground and underground tunnel infrastructures; separated through firewalls, having different utilities systems, and different emergency power sources. Hence, if one part of the building is unusable, an alternative care site can be located in a different equipped building. The UTMC has also collaborated with other community partners, to establish an alternative care site at the Collier Building; therefore, medical staffs or students can continue caring for the relocated patients. During patient relocation, copies of medical records and other medical items are sent to the alternative clinic sites. Communication and transport infrastructure and services between the hospital and the alternative clinic sites are coordinated in the Hospital command Center in liaison with the Lucas County Emergency Operation Coordinator (Boin & Rhinard, 2008). In addition, the Hospital Council of Northwest Ohio in collaboration with regional health providers, have initiated plan for opening a major alternative care facility. Toxic External Atmosphere The HICS has a flexible method to emergency management which can be utilized in various disaster responses. The Emergency Preparedness Taskforce illustrates that toxic exposure in the external environment has an adverse impact on the UTMC and the surrounding community. As part of the mitigation and preparedness procedures, the University of Toledo Medical Center implements a yearly hazard vulnerability analysis which aims at; illustrating emergency issues that could occur in the external environment; analyze the potential impact of the toxic substance on the university and surrounding community; and finally study the preparedness of the medical center in mitigating the effect of the toxic substances in the external environment. However, the HICS does not adequately address the mitigation measures of toxic external atmosphere. The hospital should, therefore, take into consideration the following disaster response measures; the Safety officer should be directed to lock all entrances, the Clinic Manager should communicate that no person is allowed to open the doors or leave the clinic, and all air handlers in the facility should be shut down. Bomb Threats The HICS does not provide for adequate procedures for mitigating bomb threats. This is because it only provides for filling the bomb checklist, and then informing the University Police of the incident. However, there are several more procedures of satisfactorily handling the bomb threat. Bomb threat from callers should be properly analyzed. The analysis will lead to the filling of the bomb threat form, during the call, or immediately the caller hangs up. The Clinic Manger and the Safety Manger should be given information on the bomb threat. Both the police and the fire department should be given the bomb threat information, by the Safety Manger. Additionally, the Clinic Manager or the Safety Manger should be informed of any suspicious package within the health facility. Patients and the hospital personnel should then be removed from the immediate area surrounding the location of the suspicious package. The Security Officer should then inform the police and the bomb squad concerning the suspicious package. The receiver of the bomb threat should remain in contact with the Clinic Manager and the police, until the situation is effectively handled. Emergency Evacuation The emergency evacuation plan has also been left out of the disaster response plans of the Medical Center. In any disaster evacuation plan three main areas have to be looked at; immediate evacuation, planned evacuation, and the evacuation areas (Emergency Management Australia, 2003). The immediate evacuation entails; moving patients and hospital staffs away from the danger, separate the emergency area from the people, medical records and equipments should be moved together with patents to the alternative sites, in case of earthquakes or fires the elevators should not be used, and the communication department should be given adequate information on the disaster response exercise. Planned evacuation is normally conducted under the direct instructions of the Clinic Manger. The planned evacuation adheres to the evacuation plan. The most appropriate evacuation area is the parking lot, within the compound of the health facility. If there is need of additional or secondary evacuation area, the Clinic Manger or the Safety Officer will provide adequate instructions. Conclusion Health facilities are important players in the provision of care to people. Therefore, the centers should play active roles in assisting during community emergencies. This is realized through integrating its Emergency Preparedness Plans with the disaster plans of the community; so as to effectively support response to disasters. Also, the health centers are responsible for training its staffs on how to effectively implement the Emergency Preparedness Plans. References Drabek, T. (1991). Emergency Management: Principles and Practice for Local Government. Washington D.C.: International City Management Association. Emergency Management Australia. (2003). Community Developments in Recovering from Disaster. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia. Knouss, R. (2001). National Disaster Medical System, Public Health Rep. Boin, A. & Rhinard, M. (2008). "Managing Transboundary Crises: What Role for the European Union?" International Studies Review. Bob (September 17, 2008). "Emergency Management Training: How to Find the Right Program". Emergency Management Magazine. Read More