Essay on National Disaster Medical System

The disaster nurses are known to be more professional in nursing skills to meet the nursing physical needs that results from the disaster. They mainly focus on health of communities and the entire population. This paper analyzes the role of major public health personnel and public health nurse in disaster management, with particular interest in the flood event occasioned by a tornado. It also describes chain of commands used in simulation for community health nurse and actions that can be taken by the community health nurse to solve the situation after 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.

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.

In the event of a disaster, the community relies upon the public health personnel to evaluate the needs of the community, assess the available resources, provide reliable information, and coordinate health activities. It is essential that local health workers are trained professionals who are reassuring and organized to address health, social, cultural and material concerns of the community. Local health personnel coordinate social services, transportation, available health services, volunteers, outside assistance, public utilities and rescue work (HELP, 1989).

After September 11, 2001, the Department of Homeland of Security was formed in response to the terrorist attacks. Out of the birth of the agencies formed, the National Incident Management System (NIMS) was created to allow clear allocation of resources and a systematic approach to emergency management. The system can be effective in many responses where many levels of government and response are imminent to respond to the disaster. Many of these agencies are emergency management, police, fire, health, and EMS from all levels of government. NIMS can be used on any type of incident and of any size or scope in nature.

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.

The national system responsible for the health and welfare of United States citizens is the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “HHS is charged with regulating health care and overseeing the health status of Americans” (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2008, p. 56). A newer division, Office of Public Health Preparedness was added after September 11, 2011 to assist with preparing for bioterrorism at the state and national level (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2008). The U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) has eight agencies and is

Communication is essential between health care facilities and the CDC. For example, the facilities experience an emergency and follow certain quarantine protocols and alert the local public health department and the CDC. The CDC organizes secure transmission tactics to merge and notify public health officials at local, state, and federal levels. The institute deploys scientific and logistical proficiency, personnel, and vital medical resources to the area of the emergency. The CDC (2012) explains the implementation of the essential medical assets for protection of communities in the state of an emergency:

Emergencies and disasters happen every single day. They all vary in location and severity, but all of them have the potential to leave devastating and long term problem in the infected area if there are not proper steps in place to react quickly. For much of the United States history, there appeared to be no major go to organization in America’s greatest time of need. This paper briefly describes the history of these organizations and how FEMA came to be the USA’s primary reliance in their time of need.

“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.

To address the medical attention of the population, the assistance of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is necessary from the Federal Government. In the event of a major disaster, the HHS has the power to declare a Public Health Emergency and has primary responsibility for providing public

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

In a disaster where healthcare facilities are face with a large number casualties, mass casualty triage is use to allocate the facilities resources to do the greatest good for the most people. Mass casualty is a four colored coded tag system, starting with red tags; immediate, these are life or limb threatening, but are survivable. Followed by yellow tags; delayed, which are injuries that are significant and require medical treatment; however, they are non-life or limb threatening and can wait for hours. Next are green tags; minimal injuries that are minor and can wait for hours or days be for receiving treatment. Lastly is the black tags; expectant, which are injuries that are extensive and chances for survival is unlikely (Hinkle & Cheever,

Protecting the public’s health historically has been a state and local responsibility. However, the growing threat of bioterrorism has highlighted the importance of a strong public health infrastructure to the nation’s homeland security and has focused increased attention on the preparedness of the public health system (Frist, 2011). Since the 2001 anthrax attacks Congress has passed new legislation to increase the strength of the nation’s public health system thus the funding has also rapidly increased to meet the potential demand. There is an ongoing debate however, as to what level of contribution local, state, and federal agency’s feel is an appropriate level of ongoing public health investments.

The purpose for this Disaster Recovery Plan is to primarily maintain all of the information and material appropriate to the initiative’s ability to survive a disaster, and to document all the phases that the initiative will take if a disaster does occur. The first priority of the TC-MACT if a disaster does occur is to prevent the loss of lives. In order to move to the second step, we must guarantee all personnel and other members on the premises are safe and secure. Once we can guarantee the safety of individuals, the next objective of the TC-MACT will be to ratify the steps outlined in this DRP to bring all of the agencies, groups and departments back to business-as-usual as quickly as possible. Although CERT programs vary in some ways, they all share the potential to offer significant benefits to their sponsoring organizations, their communities and their citizens. As with any activity, there is risk.