Deadly Choices At Memorial Summary

Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital by American journalist Sheri Fink is a very inspirational book because it focused on the events that happened in Memorial Medical Center when the hospital was flooded and had no electricity after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans. Time, space, communication, and identity are portrayed throughout the book. These four factors are important in inter-ethnic relationships between patients and health care providers. Being able to identify these factors in a clinical setting, health care providers can provide more efficient care for all patients.

The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) recognizes active shooters as a threat to healthcare facilities and encourages them to incorporate planning and preparedness into their emergency operation plans. A guide was developed, and backed by the DHS, FBI, US Department of Justice, and Federal Emergency Management Agency, focused on prevention, protection, mitigation, response, and recovery, as well as stressing the importance of plans

The documentary The Waiting Room presents a safety-net hospital located in Oakland, California. In the film, director Peter Nix follows patients, doctors, and staff throughout a typical day. Furthermore, the film displays how the staff is overworked, causing an impact regarding how the American health care system is affecting millions of uninsured patients who try to cope with injury and disease. The film utilizes techniques from the observational mode such as long takes, crisis structure, and documenting unplanned everyday experiences to convey the cruel realities of Americans seeking hope and treatment.

In the wake of a natural disaster, people are forced to come to the realization they may not make it out alive; this was the thought of over 180 patients who were at Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans, Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina hit. Sheri Fink’s Deadly Choices at Memorial tells the story of what doctors and nurses had to do when the hospital, which was being used as a shelter, lost all power and had to evacuate all 180 patients in August of 2005. Usually most people have time to think about their choices so they are certain they are making the correct one, but in a time of crisis the doctors and nurses on staff at Memorial had to make harsh decisions about who of the 180 patients they would evacuate, who would go first, who would go last and who would have to stay behind. Fink’s article

The documentary The Waiting Room is about a safety-net hospital located in Oakland, California. In the film, director Peter Nix follows patients, doctors, and staff throughout a typical day. Furthermore, the film displays how the staff is overworked, and how the American health care system is affecting millions of uninsured patients who try to cope with injury and disease. The film utilizes techniques from the observational mode such as long takes, crisis structure, and documenting unplanned everyday experiences to convey the cruel realities of Americans seeking hope and treatment.

Katrina was a crisis primarily because of its scale and the mixture of challenges that it posed, not least the failure of the levees in New Orleans. Because of the novelty of a crisis, predetermined emergency plans and response behavior that may function quite well in dealing with routine emergencies are frequently grossly inadequate or even counterproductive. That proved true in New Orleans, for example, in terms of evacuation planning, law enforcement, rescue activities, sheltering, and provisions for the elderly and infirm.

Explain the importance of having an emergency plan in place to deal with unforeseen incidents

Aviii An explanation about the importance of having an emergency plan in place to deal with unforeseen circumstances.

The presentation will cover several areas dealing with the university’s ability to prepare for an emergency or catastrophic event. The areas covered include:

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.

“Deadly Choices at Memorial” forces many realities and problems for us to confront. The article forces us to make difficult decisions in a short amount of time in extreme, critical situations. Katrina put doctors and nurses into difficult situations on what to do with patients during the evacuation of the powerless hospital. They first had to rank the condition of the patients on who can be evacuated and who cannot be evacuated. It also brings about the question, how is it decided? Deichmann met with many of the roughly two dozen

Such a scenario allowed us as health care professionals to critically think what would be in the best interest for a large population in a crisis and how we can bring relief to them. One thing that surprised me was how it was a bit difficult to critically think what we would actually do through type of a crisis. Through my nursing perspective, I was unsure how I would manage the care of patients during a crisis outside of the hospital setting. It was interesting how each one of us had different dilemmas of how we would deal with this situation. One thing that I will take away from this, is that it’s important to maintain ethical care for those who are being cared during a disaster even when privacy and confidentiality may lack in such a situation. The second thing that I’ll take away is how to collaborate with team members and how to put our ideas together to manage to support the health and well-being of our patients. Lastly, I will take away how during a disaster/pandemic can affect our roles as health care professionals. The role of a pharmacist, nurse, or doctor can interchange through a crisis when the needs of for a population increases; where we need to take different roles the benefit the interest of the population. My attitude towards a pandemic situation has changed as now I’m aware of the importance of critical thinking and collaborating with others to better

I've gained lots of knowledge in various areas of this course; however, a fundamental concept that I think that is overlooked and is vital is carefully planning is how to handle a disaster. I learn a lot from the bioterrorism preparedness assignment and importance of proper planning and drills before an event. Since these types of attacks are unpredictable as I enter the field as a healthcare administrator my organization must have the necessary plan, tools, staff, and equipment to be able to handle this type of situation correctly. Another thing I found interesting is the hospital safety scorecard that provides details of how hospitals measure up against other hospitals with safety protocols, and this data is available to the public to help

In regards to the differing cultures that were affected by the hurricane, emergency responders need to be made aware of the beliefs of some regarding evacuation. It is possible that poor inner-city residents are often the least likely to follow official evacuation warnings, some because they lack transportation and others because they fail to take such warnings seriously. Religious faith also plays a part in cultural considerations during a crisis. Ones religious affiliation may cause them to place their safety with a higher being and not take the necessary precautions during an emergency. The negative association of early evacuation that accompanies some religious individuals, suggest that, emergency planning initiatives can be improved by assisting local civic and faith-based organizations in developing a coordinated, system of hazards education. (Elliot & Pias 2006).

Over the past few decades, the significance, magnitude and consequence of risk management and communication have been brought before the world over and over again in a number of situations related to health, terrorist activities, natural disasters etc. When one turns the pages of history, it is rather obvious that lack of planning and absence of resources due to unpreparedness makes it difficult for the concerned authorities to manage an emergency or epidemic a problematic and traumatic task. The chaotic situations can turn out to be more nerve-racking and tense when preparations are not made before hand (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2002).