Problems Associated With Emergency Management Agencies

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.

Problems resulting from disasters linger for quite some time after the acute phase in a disaster and victims may have issues arise that they were not aware of initially. Community health nurses are often a primary point of contact for many of these situations and must be prepared for various problems. Sometimes, they are called on to simply reassure the victim that they are not alone in the situation and that help will continue to come. When a nurse allows a victim to discuss their concerns, the nurse can quickly expedite referrals to the appropriate area if it is out of their scope of practice. Occasionally, just having the validation and reassurance from a professional instills hope that things will get better soon. In the situation where the

Memorial Hospital did not have suffice evacuation guidelines for a disaster, let alone one of this magnitude. The hospital staff developed their own triage system to evacuate patients, and as a result the LifeCare and other critically ill patients were neglected. Memorial Hospital had a vast variety of departments at the hospital including: neonatal intensive care, dialysis, oncology,

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 CHD Preparedness and Support Unit in the Bureau of Preparedness and Response (BPR) shares the Florida Department of Health (DOH) responsibility for ensuring the state’s public health and health care systems are prepared to respond to disasters and other public health emergencies. Therefore, the Unit is responsible for promoting and supporting preparedness activities at the local level by developing, evaluating and providing technical assistance for accomplishing the CHD Expectations; serving as liaison and point of contact for questions, concerns and needs related to CHD Preparedness, and by seeking and allocating funds locally according to cooperative agreements and statutory authority.

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.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is a body under the United States Department of Homeland Security that was created in 1978 to improve the safety of the American residents, especially during disasters. FEMA has a primary mandate of coordinating the response to any disaster that may occur in the U.S. and that overwhelms both local and state authorities’ resources. FEMA comes in to aid only after the governor of the involved state has declared a state of emergency and has made a formal request. However, there is an exception to the gubernatorial declaration requirement, when an emergency occurs on a federal property such as the Space Shuttle Columbia experienced in the 2003 return-flight disaster ("About the FEMA Agency", 2016).

From the perspective of a health care administrator, I will identify, develop, and discuss strategic issues in planning a model by prioritizing issues facing a community when dealing with a natural disaster using the four MAPP assessments that align with the shared community mission. Lastly, I explain how you would promote collaborations among clinical professionals, explain methods that encourage physician leadership in patient care enhancement, and explain quality initiatives that reduce organizational risk and support patient safety.

The Emergency Services organizations in the United States are complex and challenging group’s that are a required necessity of all communities, based on law. The fire service part of the emergency services have been around over two hundred years and has been the backbone of many emergency service agencies on how the culture is built and how everyday actions are completed within the emergency services, there has been cultural ambivalence within the Emergency Service on how to deal with employees, with the current laws and regulations. Many of the employment issues within the emergency services have been due to the increase in members of the emergency services pushing back on the old cultural practices of the agencies or governments who govern the emergency service agencies. It is evident that in some incidents that the politics and old traditional cultures have made issues of diversity, leadership issues and equal rights issues. There is growing professional literary evidence that acknowledges the legal issues surrounding emergency service agencies (Rielage, 2008).

Government at all levels plays an important role during disaster management. Actions and roles of each government agencies are spelled out in the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and the National Response Framework (NRF). But before we go into details on the roles of governments, let me first of all explain what constitute emergency and emergency management, just to give clearer understanding some of these terms. Then I will examine the roles of governments at all level including first responder actions, mutual support, lead and support roles.

Healthcare access is currently a hot topic within American media and under great political debate. The current Administration of this country is defunding and restructuring Healthcare and Public Health resouces as a whole. What happens when this critical infrastructure is in jeopardy of functioning as intended for the protection and welfare of this nations people in an emergency or disaster? The country depends on the stability and accessibility of its healthcare system and public health resources, especially during these events.  There is no region in the United States that is immune to the variety of infrastructure catastrophes that can be caused by natural threats, such as

Emergency management faces many challenges in today’s modern society. In the years prior to 9/11 emergency management was primarily focused on natural disasters. That has since changed; we now face a diverse variety of risks and hazards on a constant basis. As we continue to grow in population current and newer have compounded into more problems that emergency planner must face and find solutions for.

In an event of a flood, the employees will need to work together and decide on where to move all the patients, either to higher grounds or to another facility. Sandbags and shovel will be useful to have because this will help slow down the flood of entering the hospital or area. Also, if the water if too high and the patients can no longer stay in their beds, having something that floats would be useful so patients can be pushed through that method. For the medical records, if there is any paper patient information, the records should be kept at least 24 inches off the floor and/or placed in Ziploc bags to prevent damage. Similar to if there is a fire, as the patients are being moved around, placards should be used to indicate whether the patient

The response to any emergency is considered to be very critical and therefore should be as efficient as possible. In the healthcare sector, responses to situations are counted by the seconds. From natural disasters to epidemics, the only chance left to respond to any of this occurrence could only be counted in seconds. That means life is either saved or lost in a matter of seconds. Putting in place certain responses to these unexpected occurrences, such as crises management communication plan, help save lives and arrest crises from aggravating. Failure to have crises management communication plan is considered by many commentators to be a crisis in itself. Accepted medical care is highly dependent on effective communication between healthcare providers and the patients; among healthcare providers and the outside world. The characteristics of crises make it necessary for prior planning and effective communication among stakeholders in the health sector (Klaene and Sanders, 2006; Ronen, 2006).

Is it a fire, a chemical spill, a tornado, a multiple car accident scene? This will define who the hospital needs to contact and establish communications with. “Hospitals rarely have the capacity to handle a surge of patients, especially those with critical need (Hospital, 2017).” Making space available in rooms with negative air flow and ICU care are some challenges. This would prompt a need for communication and transport to hospitals in the region that could help with stabile patients needing continuing care from a hospital without the needed resources