...Contingency Plan Significance for Disaster Preparedness Tanya Vadnais Southern New Hampshire University Contingency Plan Significance for Disaster Preparedness We never know when disaster will strike in the healthcare profession, and therefore, disaster preparedness needs to be in the forefront of our minds. The most important part of disaster preparedness is planning in advance, and contingency plans are the most reliable way of accomplishing this. Contingency plans can be defined as “planning activities related to a site-specific threat that may occur at any time” (Vennema, 2007, p. 138). Different disaster planning and contingency plans will be needed depending on geographical location such as hurricanes in the southern region, earthquakes in the western region, and severe snow storms in the northern region. In the case study reviewed, a nurse who has just arrived for a 12 hours shift was concerned about the forecasted blizzard that was expected to bring two to three feet of snow in the next twelve to eighteen hours. Other nurses begin to get anxious and ask about contacting the nursing supervisor to seek strategies to ensure adequate staffing for patient care in the morning. Leadership within the healthcare facility should be cognoscente of the impending blizzard, and a contingency plan should be utilized to guarantee harm reduction during this internal/external disaster threat. Careful organization of contingency plans is necessary if those involved in a disaster are to...
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...Disaster and Response Proposal Scenario As members of a disaster planning committee we have been asked to present a disaster and response proposal to the CNO of the hospital related to interoperable electronic health records. According to the weather channel, our community is at risk for experiencing a major earthquake and our hospital lies within the boundaries of the fault line. This puts the hospital at high risk for experiencing severe damage if the earthquake does occur. First, we will start with using research-based best practices and how the interoperable electronic health records contribute to progress in research and evidence-based practice. Evidence based practice is made up of the needs of the patients, clinical expertise, and the best evidence based research. We will use qualitative research, quantitative research, and systematic review research to find the best practices to use to keep our facility and patients safe in the event of the severe natural disaster. We will only use research based on peer reviewed, scholarly articles and journals and evidence-based research. Interoperability in healthcare is the ability for different information technology systems to be able to communicate with each other, exchange and use data that has been shared. This information exchange should be available to physicians, labs, pharmacy, hospitals and the patients. This would allow the healthcare system to advance in more effective delivery of healthcare and increase patient outcomes...
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...Disaster Management Shaudrica Myles, Terrica Nixon, Marie Smith, Cindy Woods HCS/446 July 28, 2014 Dr. Melissa Stewart I. Disaster Management A. In todays' world, disaster is not a single event; it has several consequences and causes which, causes environmental losses, material, human that exceeds the community ability to cope using its own resources. The world is changing fast; more people are becoming vulnerable to disaster which governments sometimes are n.ot adequate support. B. New challenges and planning of a health care facility would involve the humanitarian coordination, concerns over accountability and standards. This new challenge and the new planning of a new healthcare facility will ensure responses ensure the well-functioning, global disaster management system is in place to addresses the needs of vulnerable people who would be affected by disasters. The new planning of the healthcare facility would consider of The Disaster Management support of management resources, responsibilities and organization for dealing with humanitarian. C. This outline will clearly describe the overview of the Disaster Management impact issue along with examining the local, state, and federal legal and regulatory requirements. This outline will also address the Certificate of Need program in the state as well the issues to consider when meeting the International Building Code for a facility. This outline will describe the measurement done in advance for...
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...Strayer University Continuity Planning Overview CIS-359: Disaster Recovery Management October 29, 2015 Introduction: This paper will briefly expound upon the lead position or manager’s role, of a healthcare company. It will provide a list of responsibilities a business continuity manager is expected to perform, how to build the framework for, and execute a business continuity plan, and also display a chart that pertains to giving a BCP presentation. Explain four high-level activities that aid in the initiation of a viable, business continuity plan. The role of an experienced business continuity manager in a healthcare business must identify and implement all of aspects of the business’, business continuity plan or BCP. To remain in accordance with the BCP, in preparation for disaster, from the start date, while it is in ongoing stages, and also afterward. Business continuity managers, work directly and strategically with the in-house BCM (Business Continuity Management) division, the business owner, and also the BCM’s, guidance and/or steering committee. They are expected to supervise, utilize paramount communication skills, monitoring the efficiency and progress of those team members and/or subordinates, who report directly to the, business continuity manager. In a healthcare environment, an efficient and thorough business continuity leader, structures accountability framework, by working close-knit with the business’ IT department, existing business...
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...difficulties with the emergency planning process, the emergency plan can also encounter issues, especially, when taking into consideration the different groups that make up the community it is created for. The emergency plan must ensure preparedness for all groups within the population, however, one particular group is often overlooked during the planning process. This group is known as the special health-care needs (SHCN) community. In Nick et al. (2009), this group is defined as the at-risk individuals, vulnerable population, or special needs population whose circumstances...
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...Systems Management Plan CMGT 554 Systems Management Plan Patton-Fuller Community Hospital, located in the City of Kelsey, is a fully functioning hospital servicing the local area since 1975. The current networking architecture of the Patton-Fuller Community Hospital utilizes four information systems: * Accounting and Finance Information System * Human Resources Information System * Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Information System * Knowledge Management (KM) Information System These can be broken down into two major sections. The two interconnections of the network include a 1000 Base T which provides network access to many administrative and operational areas of the facility. Executive management, Human Resources, Operations, Facilities, Finance, as well as the IT data center are all connected directly to this side of the network backbone. The hospital side is connected via 1000 Base F which uses fiber optics to ensure the very highest speed data transmission as well as protection from RF and other possible interference from hospital and lab equipment in use throughout this area (Apollo Group, Inc. 2013). Apollo Group, Inc. 2013 The interconnections are tied together with a Network bridge, which seamlessly combines the two different network technologies to a unified bridge point. Data entering the bridge from the fiber side is easily converted to the standard CAT6 cable, and the same is true for the CAT6 signal being converted to fiber...
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...Scenario of Natural Disaster Paper By: Teresa McCullough University of Phoenix June 18, 2012 Instructor: Michael Solomon Introduction: The privacy and security of patient’s health information is an important challenge and responsibility for every healthcare organization and a concern for every United States citizen. To receive healthcare, patients must reveal information that is very personal and often sensitive in nature. Most of the patient-physician relationships depend on very high levels of trust at the same time they also trust that the healthcare organization will protect their confidential healthcare information with belief of security and privacy. It is an ethical and legal responsibility for every healthcare organization to protect patient’s health information and should make a management plan for security and privacy of this confidential health information. “Disasters and security incidents may threaten the organization’s ability to carry out its mission as well as other operational functions. Advance planning and preparation will allow the organization to continue serving its patients and community to ensure the availability of patient protected health information as well as business information” (MHC IT Disaster Recovery Plan, 2006). If access to data is not safe and precise during a natural disaster, there are bound to be many privacy concerns. The purpose of this paper is to describe and discuss the natural disaster case scenario of a...
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...Recognition and Types of Infectious Diseases Following Disasters TUI University Professor Dr. Paul Persaud Fall 2015 For this Case Assignment you are to comment on the similarities and differences in pre-event preparation between an infectious disease event and other emergencies. The initial pre-planning response to most natural disaster is the same, however; in many cases emergency responders are the first to detect an infectious disease outbreak. For this reason it is important to properly pre-plan in advance for events that have potential in developing infectious disease outbreaks, which is common in developing countries following a natural disaster. The health impacts associated with the sudden crowding coupled with large numbers of survivors, often with insufficient access to safe water and sanitation facilities, will require planning for both medical and preventive interventions, such as rehydration, antibiotics and vaccination materials (World Health Organization, 2006). The sooner the incident and at-risk patients are identified, the higher the likelihood of decreasing morbidity, mortality, and cost associated with the event. The biggest difference between infectious disease disasters and other natural mass casualty’s events is that infectious disease disasters are more difficult to detect. With natural disasters, and even traditional or chemical terrorism, there is an obvious sign that something abnormal has happened or is going to happen. This...
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...Reflection Two: Information Management Jessica Quiñones-Gruetzmacher Walden University NURS 6015: Information and Healthcare Technologies Applied to Nursing Practice Dr. Juanita Rass April 15, 2012 Introduction Nurses have various roles when dealing with clients. Some of those roles are caregiver, communicator, teacher, advocate, leader, manager, and researcher. This course has added other roles to the previous list, such as data gatherer, information user, knowledge user and knowledge builder and those roles can be achieved by the use of informatics or nursing informatics (Hebda and Czar, 2009). The purpose for this paper is to reflect on theories, concepts and strategies presented in NURS 6015: Information and Healthcare Technologies Applied to Nursing Practice. NURS 6015 Impact on Personal Attitude Nursing Informatics When this course started my personal attitude was one of skepticism. My thoughts were really negative and crude such as, “how is this course going to help me with my job?”, “is it totally necessary?” or “what is the importance of this course?” Now my way of thinking is one of acceptance, understanding and curiosity. New ideas pop in my head, questions begin to take shape and learning moments start to make sense. All the time spent in my clinical practice is a time for putting the knowledge learned in NURS 6015 into use. “Nurses need to be adept at using patient-centered information technology (IT) tools to access information to expand their...
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...Crisis Management Communication Plan General communication is significant in terms of any disasters strike. In healthcare setting, when at the time of acute or prolong of crisis, mass trauma or disaster, communication is very crucial. More often, during the times of major disasters on which communication will impair are due to lack of preparation and training. In addition, failure to communicate systematically will result with chaos arising. Yet, due to the fear of the unknown, stress is increasing among healthcare staff , patients and family. To effectively control the chaotic situation, all healthcare facilities should create a frameworks to create strong leadership teams to guide the employees, and exercise about the knowledge, skills and abilities of communication in response to different type of crisis. Communication Types of Crises "Crisis is a stage of an individual who experienced from an unexpected thread, loss self controlled, or dealing with terminal illness"( Arnold.E.C., 2011). When caring patients who experienced mental illness. To achieve communication effectively, health care teams must clearly understand the different type of crisis and the caused that affecting patient's well being, Foremost, the successful of communication during crisis depend on the coping mechanism of an individual. There are many different kinds of crisis; situational crises, adventitious crisis which included mass trauma and nature disasters. A situational crises occur...
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...RUNNING HEAD: BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLAN Mercy Hospital Business Continuity Plan Susan Drago Jacksonville, Florida Western Governors University 1 RUNNING HEAD: BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLAN 2 Mercy Hospital Business Continuity Plan The number one priority for hospitals is to provide continuous, superior care to patients, regardless of circumstance. This principle results in the need to invest time and resources in preparing for disruptive events. Hospitals are required to invest in preparedness measures by external agencies, such as The Joint Commission and other accreditation bodies. This requires hospitals to have an emergency preparedness program. Six critical areas that a hospital plan must address include: Communication; Resources and Assets; Safety and Security; Staff Responsibilities; Utilities Management and Patient Clinical and support activities (JCAHO, 2012). Government regulations such as the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) also require hospitals to protect all medical information, including electronic medical records (EMR), which requires a robust information security program. Business continuity refers to an integrated set of plans, procedures and resources that may be used to maintain and recover essential functions impacted from any event causing an interruption of healthcare delivery services. The key elements of a hospital business continuity plan are: Governance-Define and align with executive priorities...
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...factors which led to poor health in most African countries and explaining some of the consequences that are experienced as a result of poor health care. Introduction. Africa is a third world continent meaning that all African countries are not yet fully developed and are still in the development stage. The underdevelopment makes Africa a victim of poor health care. Only a few have access to proper adequate healthcare leaving masses with poor healthcare Health conditions in Africa lag behind all other developed Eastern and Western countries and life expectancy is far less than that of developed countries (Health Poverty Action, 2015). Poverty and health worldwide are inextricably linked (Health Poverty Action, 2005). This assignment will be looking at those factors caused by poverty that lead to poor health. Poor sanitary conditions. Poor sanitary conditions in Africa have led to a lot of health problems leading to poor health conditions across the continent. In 2008, approximately sixty two percent of Africans did not have access to improved sanitation facilities such as proper toilets that separate human waste from human contact (WHO, 2008). In the rural parts of Africa, sanitary problems are particularly common especially in drought times when water is unavailable for domestic uses (Ademuluyi and Odugbesan, 2008: 812). Sanitation conditions worsen if clean water supply is low or unavailable. Many African countries suffer from this lack of clean water to use and...
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...Chaos Theory By Organizational Development for Healthcare Chaos theory (1960’s- present) this theory is the study of astronomy and mathematics circa 1850. Chaos theory stated the theory that the world is unorganized and events are unpredictable; thus managers must recognize that events cannot be controlled. This is also known as “sensitive to changes in initial conditions. Chaos theory recognizes that the world is unorganized and filled with unpredictable events, therefore, organizational event cannot always be controlled and managers must recognize that they will be faced with unusual challenges. Meaning small changes in which people work or live may result in dramatic change of behavior for some employees in a community. One example is the devastation from Hurricane Katrina. Many employees who lived in New Orleans, Biloxi, and Gulf coast communities never returned to work, and had to leave the area permanently because of the bad conditions, and unbelievable living environment. This disaster not only affects them in the Gulf Coast area, but the entire nation. This disaster can teach today’s health care administrator’s to have actions plans in place, for emergency situations , or establish relationship among other communities, and healthcare organizations in the surrounding area to implement volunteers, and workers that will be willing to help , assistance, temporarily relocate to aid and assist other facilities when the unexpected happen. I believe that administrator...
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...Abstract Healthcare is one of the top social and economic problems in America today. The United States is considered by most to be the greatest country to ever grace the face of the planet. It has the largest military, the largest economy, freedom of speech and religion, and one of the first successful democracies and of course, the American dream. Yet, what is the one thing that most people seem to forget? That the United States of America, the most dominant force in the world, is also the only westernized industrial nation without a Universal Healthcare system(Capretta, Moffit, 2012). Public Health Preparedness Examine the existing procedures related to at least four of the ten essential public health services. Focus on the principal effects that these procedures will have on your hospital during the emergency. The public health system includes: Public health agencies at state and local levels, Healthcare providers, Public safety agencies, Human service and charity organizations, Economic and philanthropic organizations and Environmental agencies and organizations As the new Vice President of quality and safety; emergency preparedness is achieved by planning, training, equipping, and exercising the emergency response organization. The framework of public health systems monitors the health status in order to identify and solve community health problems. Also mobilize community partnerships and action to identify and solve health problems. Our facility has developed...
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...FACTORS INFLUENCING AWARENESS OF DISASTER MITIGATION AND PREPAREDNESS AMONG NURSES AT THE CASUALTY DEPARTMENT AT KNH MALIK MWENDO H32/2258/2010 A Research Proposal Submitted In Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements For The Conferment of The Degree of Bachelor of Science in Nursing Sciences In College of Health Sciences at The University of Nairobi. March 2014 List of abbreviations KNH - Kenyatta National Hospital JCAHO- Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations ABSTRACT CHAPTER ONE 1.0 Background Information A disaster can be defined as a sudden extraordinary event that brings great damage, loss, destruction and injury to people and their environment (Stanhope and Lancaster, 2008). Bradt and Drummond (2007) also defined a disaster as a phenomenon that leads to massive destruction of infrastructure. A disaster can be classified either as man-made or natural incident that causes destruction that cannot be relieved without assistance. Disasters can also occur either internally, that is within the healthcare facility, or externally, that is outside the healthcare facility (Hassmiller, 2008). Disaster preparedness and management has changed dramatically since September 11, 2011. This incident raised the awareness towards disasters that made disaster management and response an issue that needed to be urgently addressed. After that in America there was the advent of the biological warfare that involved envelopes of anthrax...
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