Sustainability and Culture of Emergency Preparedness Program Assignment
Sustainability and Culture of Emergency Preparedness Program Assignment
38 NOVEMBER – DECEMBER 2013 www.chausa.org HEALTH PROGRESS
BUILDING A CULTURE OF PREPAREDNESS
E
nsuring a hospital’s preparedness is
both an operational necessity and
a regulatory expectation. Regulatory
agencies including the Joint Commission and Centers for Medicare
and Medicaid Services have defined
standards to ensure accredited facilities actively prepare for emergencies
which affect that facility and their role
in a communitywide response.1,2 Regulatory standards focus on issues common to disaster events, such as communication and coordination, both
within the facility and with community
agencies, facility safety and security,
staff roles and responsibilities, patient
management, patient care resources
and support for building systems.
Regulatory agencies expect plans
to be living documents that are tested
frequently and revised as often as
necessary to address changes in the
organization’s services and capabilities. Planning should focus on defining
procedures and securing resources to
sustain operations during an event, as
well as on how the organization will
recover from the disaster.
Funds and resources to support
emergency preparedness are available
through federal grant programs such
as the Hospital Preparedness Program
(HPP) to support planning for public
health threats and the Cities Readiness Initiative, funded by the Centers
for Disease Control, for preparedness in large cities and metropolitan
areas.3,4 Hospitals participating in
these programs not only gain access
to programs that will help prepare
their facility, but they also may find
the programs offer an opportunity
to network with key community
stakeholders and build support for the
community as a whole. In Louisiana,
the HPP grant is an integral part of the
structure used to create our unique
regional coordination plan.
Here is a checklist that can help
build a culture of preparedness:
BUILD RELATIONSHIPS
Identify key stakeholders in your
community. Consider hospitals, nursing homes, outpatient service providers for dialysis or diagnostic testing
and ambulance services, as well as
individual practitioners.
Meet with local governmental
agencies such as the county Office of
Emergency Management/Homeland
Security and Office of Public Health.
Participate in planning meetings hosted by the Local Emergency
Planning Committee, Department of
Health or other community agency.
CREATE PROCESSES THAT SUPPORT
EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
Require leaders and staff to learn
the Incident Command System so it
becomes hardwired into your organization. (See sidebar, page 30.)
Establish an internal report telephone line for staff so they can hear
current operational status information
during an extended disaster.
Create templates for internal
alerts and messages for team members, patients and guests.
Consider electronic tools such as
mass notification systems to support
timely communication.
UNDERSTAND THE HAZARDS
IN YOUR COMMUNITY
Learn about what kind of industry operates in your area. Ask to work
with them to plan for an emergency
involving their business.
Talk with the state law enforcement agency about hazardous materials that may be transported through
your community via interstate highway or railways.
Contact the Local Emergency
Planning Committee about its assessment of hazards for the community.
Complete a hazard vulnerability
analysis for your hospital and share
the results with other hospitals and
community agencies.
PRACTICE YOUR PLAN
AND EVALUATE THE RESULTS
Seek opportunities to test your
emergency operations plan throughout the year. Contact your local airport
to ask about participating in FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) drills.
Invite community partners,
including other hospitals, to participate in emergency plan drills whenever possible. If a practice scenario
does not involve community coordination, invite a partner to be an exercise
evaluator.
Take time to methodically evaluate each exercise or plan implementation.
Use the lessons learned to refine
detailed action plans
— Allyn T. Whaley-Martin
NOTES
1. The Joint Commission’s Emergency Management Standards,
ORDER A PLAGIARISM FREE PAPER NOW
www.jointcommission.org/new_revised_reqs_emergency_
management_oversight/.
2. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Condition of Participation: Disaster
Preparedness, Title 42 CFR 485.727.
3. U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary
for Preparedness and Response, Hospital
Preparedness Program, www.phe.gov/
Preparedness/planning/hpp.
4. Centers for Disease Control, Cities Readiness Initiative, http://emergency.cdc.gov/
cri/.
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