Principles of Preparedness - Book Report/Review Example

Principles of Preparedness The concept of preparedness has become crucial in the management of all kinds of local and national disasters. It entailsmore than just an extension of normal healthcare plans because the risks facing the United States in the twenty first century can be both much larger in scale and very different in type from the everyday occurrences that healthcare providers are set up to deal with. An important approach to preparedness is to consider three overarching principles of preparedness, namely integration, testing and resources.

(McGlown, 2005, p. 44) The United States favors an all-hazard approach rather than a specific regional focus on dangers that occur due to local weather or other factors. Integration is an important factor within the healthcare field because there are usually many different effects arising from one disaster scenario, and this draws a complex mix agencies and organizations into the response. In the first 48 hours it is particularly crucial that the local organizations work together. This spreads the load and makes most effective use of resources, but only if there is good leadership and planning on the ground, and effective communication from the moment a disaster begins.

(Landesman, 2005) A key factor in this integration is the delegation of as much authority as possible to the frontline personnel, so that time is not lost in management decision making and communication through a long chain. Failure to integrate the different local responses leads to duplication, confusion and waste of resources and so this is a very important overarching principle. An example of the significant progress that has been made in this area is the publication of the National Preparedness Guidelines (2007) and the detailed information contained in the national and local pages of the Public Health Emergency Website.

Testing is a prerequisite for any preparedness plan because there are many dimensions to a disaster and not all of them can be foreseen. By modelling and simulating particular scenarios the timescales and resource implications can be tried out, informing future planning and highlighting any areas which are not optimally covered. In particular there is a need to determine each level’s capacity and clear trigger points which activate and release higher level resources. (McGlown, 2004, p. 45) Such tests are built in to government systems and this dimension appears well covered.

Resources for healthcare response to major disasters have traditionally not been built in to the budgets of organizations. Since the 9/11 incident this has partly been remedied through the creation of the Department of Homeland Security but many scholars still advocate a better framework for federal resources to flow to local healthcare organizations. There is still work to be done in this area to ensure that preparedness is real and not just a theoretical construct. References Department of Homeland Security website.

Retrieved from: http://www.dhs.gov/index.shtm Landesman, L. Y. (2005) Public Health Management of Disasters: the practice guide. Washington D.C.: American Public Health Association. McGlown, K.J. (Ed.) (2004) Terrorism and disaster management: Preparing healthcare leaders for the new reality. Chicago: Health Administration Press. National Preparedness Guidelines (2007). Retrieved from: http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/National_Preparedness_Guidelines.pdf Public Health Emergency Website. Retrieved from: http://www.phe.gov/preparedness/pages/default.aspx