All Entries Tagged With: "emergency operations plan"
If they don’t know by now…you must be remarkably emergency-free
Lately, I’ve encountered some consternation relative to emergency management, specifically EM.02.02.07, for communicating in writing to each licensed independent practitioners their role in an emergency and to whom they would report in an emergency.
From my experiences, there are any number of ways to demonstrate compliance with this performance element, and to be honest, I’ve not heard of any Joint Commission surveyors “pushing” on this issue, but it could certainly be a vulnerability. One way folks comply with this standard is through credentialing and/or re-credentialing, making use of a process that is already in place. I’m presuming that you have e-mail access for your medical staff members, in which case a simple summary of their duties/roles in an emergency response activation would suffice. Another thought would be handouts at your regularly scheduled medical staff meetings, though, depending on attendance, this might be a tough one to sell if you have a particularly picky surveyor. Anything along these lines would be quite adequate as a demonstration of compliance with this standard.
By the way, the standard does not specify a frequency, so–at least for the moment—you need only document one communication of this nature. It would certainly be appropriate to inform medical staff of substantive changes in their roles, etc., but that would not be considered a standards-based requirement.
Random acts of impenetrable prose
Could I have a volunteer from the audience?
Whilst working in the upper part of the Midwest, I found an interesting take on how one might gather volunteers to help out as “victims” when conducting an emergency response exercise that calls for said victims (“paper” patients are OK in a pinch, but isn’t it way more fun/realistic to have some flesh-and-blood types to run through the process?) In this particular area, high school students, in order to fulfill their obligations for graduation, are charged with participating in X number of community service hours during their (hopefully) four-year stint. If I may opine for a moment, I think the community service idea is way cool and with any luck, might bring back the whole “taking care of each other” mindset that seems to have fled screaming into the night. I see way too much trash dumped by roadsides, etc., to think that we are accelerating as a culture toward a positive destination . . . but I digress.
At any rate, a process was set up with the schools that allowed for participation in emergency exercises to count toward the community service requirement. How cool is that? I don’t know if you have such a program in your neck of the woods, but I think it’s definitely worth checking out. And if you’re already doing this, how come you didn’t share it with the group? Shame, shame, shame…
This is a public service announcement
This is a public service announcement—with guitars! (Okay, maybe not guitars) or perhaps this will work:
Money well spent…imagine that.
Every once in a while I like to share stuff that folks are developing in other areas of concerns/disciplines, and I think this one is a peach. In fact, I think it’s so useful, I’m just going to thank my good friend and colleague Marge McFarlane for sharing this with me, which helps me to share with you, and then shut the heck up:
The American College of Emergency Physicians is proud to announce the release of its newest training, Hospital Evacuation: Principles and Practices. The training can be found here.
We hope that you take the time to view the course and pass the information along. A description of the course can be found below:
“Healthcare facilities must be ready to tackle anything that comes their way. In times of disaster, natural or technological, they must remain open, operational, and continue carrying out their functions. When the situation escalates to a level that endangers the health and/or safety of the facilities patents, staff, and visitors, evacuation of the endangered areas is necessary. Safety and continuity of care among evacuees during a disaster depend on planning, preparedness, and mitigation activities performed before the event occurs. At the completion of the course, hospitals and other healthcare providers with inpatient or resident beds will have basic training and tools to develop an evacuation plan. This one-hour course will take the participant through the stages of preparing for a facility evacuation. It begins by performing an assessment of possible vulnerabilities and the resources available to a facility. Next, the course walks the learner through the development of a functional plan for a healthcare facility, and identification of key personnel positions implemented when a facility evacuates and the roles and responsibilities of each. The course concludes by addressing recovery issues, both plan development and operational.”
Good stuff, and I encourage each one of you with anything more than a passing interest in such things to check it out.
EM.02.02.07 offers good framework of staff concerns during disaster responses
Every emergency is different from every other emergency, and every moment in every emergency is different from every other moment in an emergency, and each person’s situation is going to be different.
What it comes down to is organizations must strive to provide sufficient comfort for staff members to be able to show up at work and be productive.
It shouldn’t be difficult to figure out [more]
Despite bigger influences, Joint Commission wants emergency prep to stem from staff’s abilities
The surveyor cadre is not particularly knowledgeable about the practical application (and implications, for that matter) of federal level emergency management activities.
There is a broad-based Joint Commission requirement for organizations to comply with applicable local, state, and federal laws and regulations, but even the National Incident Management System and Hospital Incident Command System only truly become “requirements” when [more]
