Contagion In Healthcare

Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Denton is a 255-bed hospital featuring more than forty three specialties, the hospital is located adjacent to a major highway which is used to transport hazardous materials, commuters and cargo. Texas Health Presbyterian Denton is a suburb of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, which has an estimated population of seven million residents and covers a geographical area of approximately 9,000 square miles. The Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and the fourth largest in the United States. The purpose of this paper will be to evaluate the Texas Health Presbyterian Denton’s Emergency Operation’s Plan to determine if it address a comprehensive response to threats, emergencies and disasters while safeguarding the welfare of its citizens.

Preparedness Efforts is preparedness activities prepare the community to respond when a disaster does occur. Typical preparedness measures include medical personnel for the emergency services and for community volunteer groups. The medical facility will need to have the proper medical vehicles, equipment, supplies, and communications systems, and regularly training

We have established a comprehensive Emergency Operations Plan to handle our resources to provide safe environment for our patients in the event of adverse conditions such as power failures, water, fuel shortages, flooding, and communication breakdowns. Our facilities are prepared, staff knows responsibilities to extend patient care under disrupted utilities and other emergency situations.

Techniques that were used or could have been used to calm the fears of the people interviewed are to use short and concise statements. Perform active listening and confirm statements by repeating it back to the person being spoken with, use confrontation avoidance, and De-escalation. The other nursing personnel could be prepared to help in responding to a similar emergency with a much larger affected area (e.g., the effect of Hurricane Katrina). Through the development of a well-organized disaster response plan. Public health staff requires National Incident Management System (NIMS) training. Emergency preparedness training should be performed at least every six months. There needs to be a method of communication in case power lines, towers and electricity are

John M. Barry has written award winning books including the Influenza pandemic of 1918, and the great Mississippi flood. Being invited by 2 presidential administrations, Bush and Obama, to advise on preparedness for pandemics and pandemic response. Having also advised on state, federal, UN and world health organizations on influenza, water disasters, risk communication and crisis management Barry is more than qualified to talk about such a topic considering his past of assisting the world with disaster prevention and response.

In day to day operations, uncertainties do occur. Henceforth it would be important to have a contingent and well detailed disaster preparedness plan and procedures. Healthcare systems, on a day to day basis, are faced with emergencies in form of disasters. As a result, majority of medical centers have well-structured exit plans in the event of a disaster occurring("Hospital Disaster Preparedness: Your Guide to Getting Started - Emergency Preparedness", 2011). However, this essay will aim at interviewing one of the top disaster preparedness staffat the Houston Methodist Hospital. In the interview, I will seek to identify the top three disasters that the Houston Methodist Hospital is prepared for. Similarly, in the interview, I would seek to identify the top lessons learnt from disaster preparedness at the hospitals.As it concludes it would summarize the findings with regards to the interview stated below. Below is an excerpt from the interview to answer the two aforementioned questions.

During a declared disaster, the State Medical Assistance Teams (SMAT) are coordinated by the SMRS. They are requested and activated as an ESF-8 resource. These teams may be requested by other states across the nation to respond to major events through a mutual aid system between states (Mississippi State Medical Assistance Team, 2008). The SMAT concept was again modeled after the North Carolina SMRS SMAT, allowing for enhanced interoperability between the two states. One SMAT is up to a fifty-bed mobile field hospital designed to support impacted healthcare systems in a disaster. Mississippi has three SMAT units that may be deployed separately or combined. These teams provide the state of Mississippi an effective, all-hazards solution to support various missions. These mission profiles include disaster field medical care, alternate care site, weapons of mass destruction response, hazardous material response, contingency management, pharmaceutical point of distribution, and/or event medical support (Mississippi MED-1, 2009). The SMAT staff are both non-clinical and clinical providers from around Mississippi that undergo advanced disaster training and orientation to the mobile field hospital setting. Each of the SMAT mobile field hospitals provides a full array of clinical services that include cardiac telemetry, digital x-ray, ultrasound, ventilators, and intravenous pumps. Combining the efforts of the advanced trained staff with the

Flash forward to the 21st century. Medical care and evacuation after natural or man-made disasters haven't been as effective as they could be because of the lack of medical personnel, equipment and hospital-grade supplies

Though the terrorist attacks of 9/11 shook the United States from some of its complacency, 11 years later, our public health system and the public/private health departments of the United States are still incapable of coping with a major bioterrorist attack. Our health care system was not designed to deal with bioterrorism, our medical personnel are not trained or experienced enough to deal with bioterrorism and we have not devoted enough political muscle and money to redesigning, re-educating and restructuring so the health departments can effectively deal with this very real menace. The solution is the devotion of all those assets to a new, empowered, well-funded, coordinated health departments comprising a highly effective public health system.

The impact of Hurricane Katrina’s landfall in August 2005 had catastrophic implications to the healthcare infrastructure in portions of coastal and southern Mississippi, including hospitals being closed due to severe damage. The healthcare response system of the time relied almost exclusively on support resources from the federal government (Federal Emergency Management Agency, 2010). By design, these teams were not able to support the local healthcare system for several days, leaving a void of services for the citizens that were hardest hit by the storm. Also during this time, the healthcare system of Mississippi faced several other critical challenges including the need for rapid assessment of impacted facilities, movement of patients between hospitals, and coordination of emergency medical services (Darsey, 2013). It is important to note that the disruption of the healthcare system resulted in challenges associated with a vulnerable population’s normal routine being severely disrupted. Additional complicating factors were a high incidence of exacerbation of chronic illnesses due to environmental conditions, loss of medications, emotional stressors, and other causes associated with the interruption of their normal level of care (Currier, King, Wofford, Daniel, & deShazo, 2006). These response challenges, coupled with the void in timely healthcare services, led to the creation of the State Medical Response System (SMRS) of Mississippi.

“A disaster is an event that is a natural or man-made occurrence that can disrupt or destroy the lives of those it affects” (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2014). “Management of a disaster includes four phases; prevention, preparedness, response and recovery” (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2014). To date there have been 154 hospital-based shootings, which resulted in 235 dead or injured. (C.Catlett, 2012). The purpose of this paper is to identify emergency preparedness and response to hospital based shootings, and the role of the public health nurse in such a disaster.

The most important aspect in managing a disaster situation is preparedness. The simulation Disaster in Franklin County highlights the role of public health personnel, with emphasis on the public health nurse because the nurse is often a first responder to such a disaster. This helps to examine the roles, actions, coping methods, and techniques used by a nurse in a disaster scenario.

It is vital that Allegiant Healthcare establish their business direction and contingency plans before another catastrophic event occurs in the San Francisco area. In this geographical area, it is not a question of “if” another event will occur, but “when” will it occur. However, should the company decide not to take any action, there are ramifications for no action. Without solid and tested business and contingency plans, there is very high probability that injuries or death, business failure, and financial loss would be the result. Additionally, the company would be held liable by the federal government for negligence as required by HIPPA and other regulatory requirements. HIPPA requires that medical facilities have a disaster recovery

Geebie and Qureshi (2002) explain how they believe that disaster nursing requires individuals to use their nursing knowledge and skills in difficult situations with limited resources and ever changing conditions. During these difficult times it is essential that nurses can adapt their practice to be disaster specific in order to minimise life-threatening damage and health hazards caused by the disaster.

Nowhere are corporate strategy differences more prominent than during a phase of crisis management. How a corporation communicates with people, how it responds to media, how it shoulders responsibility all reflect the type of culture that exists in that organization and is more visible when faced with a major crisis. Crisis management is one of the most important parts of corporation strategy and plans. Heath (1997) found that the objective of crisis management is "to exert control over activities in ways that assure stakeholders and stake seekers that their interests are cared for and fostered by the organization" (p. 292). Any large corporation cannot think of operating without an elaborate crisis management plan in place. (Albrecht, 1996; Barton, 1993; Fink, 1986). The same can be said of any hospital around the globe. A large hospital is an organization that needs a good crisis management and communication plan in order to work better under extraordinary circumstances. Some possible crisis situations and their handling are discussed below: