Preparedness Training Within Hospitals For Wmd

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2008, developed the initiative “Run, Hide, Fight” as a response strategy to an active shooter event. In the event of an active shooter they suggest run or evacuate first, if evacuation is not possible, hide and barricade doors, and as a last resort, fight back if your life is in imminent danger (DHS, 2008). All public places are vulnerable to active shooter attacks, but hospitals differ due to the vulnerability of its patients. Evacuation may not a possibility for all patients, as some may be non-ambulatory due medical conditions, or incapacitated due to anesthesia or sedation (e.g. surgical patients, ventilator dependent). Another factor increasing patient vulnerability is the patient’s ability to understand commands (e.g. Dementia, language barriers). In order to establish effective preparedness strategies, they should be tailored to the hospital environment and specific units (Cormier, 2016; Jacobs et al., 2017).

1. After the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the United States sought to improve relations between local, state, and federal agencies. This effort resulted in the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) with support from NIMS to develop the National Preparedness Goal. In a minimum of 200 words identify the five mission areas of the National Preparedness Goals and the mission of each goal.

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:

“GET DOWN!.... SHHH!!!!.... GET DOWN! GET INTO A ROOM AND LOCK IT!!!!” This is the first thing our opposite crew heard as they walked into the ER with a patient last month. Should this crew have recognized the signs of an active shooter? Is walking into a hospital with an active shooter even a real concern? From 2000-2012, there were 154 hospital related shootings in the United States with 235 injuries or deaths. That’s more than 1 shooting a month. As QIC I will implement parts of the “Active Shooter Preparedness” from United States Homeland Security. Knowing exactly what Emergency Action Plans our hospitals have in place will help us know how to recognize and react to possible active shooter situations. Scene safety is constant with EMS.

According to the Texas Health Presbyterian Denton Emergency Operations plan their objective “is to maintain the continuity of patient care operations and meet the medical needs of our members and the community.” In order to accomplish this goal they assert that maintaining the safety and security of the organizations staff and volunteers is the top priority, as the safety of their staff ensures they will be able to accomplish their mission of providing care for patients, visitors, and the larger community. In addition to their primary goal, they have also identified a secondary objective of providing supplies and assistance to other Texas Health facilities.

Urban Shield has grown into a preparedness training for prevention, protection, response and recovery in a high-threat and busy urban area. Many people are becoming more and more against the urban shield program, however I think it’s a necessary training program to implement within local law enforcement agencies. It trains law enforcement and the sheriff’s office to prepare for terrorist threats, and how they can respond to threats or attacks without use of the military force. With the numerous events going on in today’s world with alleged attacks from terrorist groups like ISIS to not only the US but to other countries in the world, Urban Shield highly prepares law enforcement to respond to threats. Nobody expected those sudden attacks in

From the years 1995 through 2003, I was an Air Force medic stationed in Germany. For the first five years I was an Airman at the 86 Aeromedical Staging Facility (ASF). Our mission at the ASF was to transport patients back and forth from the flight line as they traveled to and from their medical appointments from their assignments across Europe and sometimes over the Atlantic Ocean to various Medical Treatment Facilities (MTFs) located in the Continental United States (CONUS). Our daily operations were fairly routine and all of the technicians knew their assigned roles well whether they were driving a vehicle, transporting luggage or caring for traveling patients. ASF operations were fairly routine, even mundane, until 26 June 1996, a terrorist blew up a dorm filled with Air Force personnel in the Middle East called Khobar Towers.

This research paper looks at the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS). The National Disaster Medical System is a federally coordinated system that helps build the nations medical response capability during major medical or public health incidents that states and local communities cannot handle by themselves (USDHHS, 2015). The research in this article draws upon the history of the establishment of NDMS, and how other hospital teams were first created. The focus of this paper is to explain the goals, mission statement, objectives, and funding of the NDMS. The final section of this paper will explain how the NDMS fits into Emergency Management at the state and local levels, and explain all the different teams in NDMS medical and health professionals can sign up for.

Each year, DCHHS celebrates national preparedness month to build national and local awareness to emergency preparedness. Key goals of this year’s emergency preparedness plan focus on understanding which disasters could happen in the community, knowing what steps to take to minimize damages, taking action to increase preparedness and participating in community resilience planning. According to Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) a survey found that nearly 60 percent of drill respondents have not practiced what to do in a disaster.

Rising level of dissatisfaction amongst minority and youths has led to increasing use of chemical, biological and radiological agents in order to persuade government and public opinions. Response towards chemical, biological and radiological threats preparedness is very complex task, and it withholds certain challenges towards public health and other health care facility staff.

Title 18 U.S.C. 2332a, WMD refers to any material, weapon, or devices that are intended to cause, or is capable of causing death or serious bodily injury to a significant number of people through release, dissemination, or impact of toxic or poisonous chemicals or precursors, a disease organism, or radiation or radioactivity, including (but not limited to) biological devices, chemical devices, improvised nuclear devices, radiological dispersion devices, and radiological exposure devices. (WMD, 2016).

The capacity of any health care organization to endure a particular hazard and to respond and recover rapidly from any compromised medical services is crucial. Giving attention to this area will ensure that stable platforms are in place to counter any emerging medical surge needs.

Although the article was written a long time ago, it help me gained a better understanding about the historical perspective of the regulatory issues that are associated with a WMD attack response. I was able to compare and contrast the WMD response strategies that were used during the time that article was written against the current WMD response strategies that I learned throughout this course. Finally, I was able to learn about some of the laws and polices that were created to improve WMD response

In conflict and peacetime, there have been numerous chemical incidents with large numbers of casualties. There have been multiple attempts by terrorists to harness the lethal effect of such agents, but despite generating widespread fear, these attempts have met with limited success to date [37]. Secondary contamination of medical personnel treating contaminated victims is seen to occur in accidental incidents, and one study identified 17 medical personnel injured in this way over a 3-year period in the US

In the article “Know the Smells and Warning Bells of WMD”, the author, John Linstrom’s principal point is that the fire departments should better prepare to respond to incidents involving weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Historically, explosive or WMD incidents were handled by law enforcement, while fire assumed a support role, but with increased terroristic occurrences, firefighters have been finding themselves in situations where they have been first on scene. Mr. Linstrom stresses that firefighters need to be mindful of the threat of explosives and WMD’s when responding to incidents (Linstrom, 2004). Firefighters need to familiarize themselves with terrorist tactics and beware of potential high-risk