Week 4 Assignment: Internal Disaster Plans
Click here to read about the standard operating guidelines for hospital disaster plan.
Review the elements required for a disaster plan addressing an internal disaster. Based on your review, create a 2- to 3-page report in a Microsoft Word document covering the hospital’s (internal) disaster plan for how the staff reacts and carries out their duties in the event of an internal disaster.
Your internal disaster plans should include:
- Introduction
- Size and type of your hospital (you decide this)
- Type of internal disaster (fire, explosion, biological etc.)
- Key medical and administrative staff to be contacted
- Central point for communication
- Particular service areas such as intensive care unit (ICU), labor and delivery unit etc.
- Other hospitals in your area and how you intend to coordinate with those facilities (you decide this)
- Implementation on internal transfers (moving patients from one area of the hospital to another)
- Implementation of external transfers
- Evacuation plan
- Conclusion
To support your work, use your course and textbook readings and also use the South University Online Library. As in all assignments, cite your sources in your work and provide references for the citations in APA format.
Sample Answer
Disaster Plan
Various forms of disasters can be experienced within a healthcare environment, including fire accidents. Disasters can overpower a hospital’s functional capacity and safety due to inadequate disaster management planning and preparedness (Salamati Nia & Kulatunga, 2017). Fire accidents can cause physical damage to hospital structures and health equipment and even affect patients and healthcare professionals. Thus, it can disrupt the hospital’s normal functioning. Therefore, a hospital should establish an adequate disaster management plan and enhance its preparedness to respond to disasters and prevent damages (Salamati Nia & Kulatunga, 2017). This essay discusses the disaster management plan for St. Mary’s Health Care System, Athens, GA.
Hospital: St. Mary’s Health Care System
This is a non-profit Catholic health care organization. It was founded in 1906 and sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy. This healthcare organization comprises 196 registered beds. It offers a variety of healthcare services, including emergency care, inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation, preventive care, intensive care, home health care/hospice services, and therapeutic care (St. Mary’s Health Care System, n.d).
Internal Disaster: Fire Accidents
Fire accident is one of the common types of disasters experienced in healthcare organizations. It can because caused by cooking equipment, electrical or lighting system dysfunction, smoking, heating equipment, or intentional cause. This is a significant issue in the U.S. The U.S. fire departments responded to an estimated average of 5750 fire accidents in healthcare properties between 2011 and 2015 (National Fire Protection Association, 2017). The fire accidents led to various damages, including loss of lives, injuries, and property damage. Cooking equipment was the leading cause of the fires, followed by an electrical malfunction, lighting equipment, and intentional causes. Electrical distribution and lighting equipment cause the highest property damage (National Fire Protection Association, 2017). Thus, hospitals should develop an effective plan to prevent damages associated with fire accidents.
Key Medical and Administrative Staff to be contacted
Security Section Chief
This hospital employee is responsible for coordinating all security operations in support of the tragedy. During the disaster, the security officer will assess the fire alarms to determine the significance of the emergency issue and then liaise with the internal and external fire departments to seek help. Then this individual will coordinate with the hospital security staff to secure every entrances and exits and manage traffic flow in and around the emergency unit and the disaster site.
Nursing and Medical Director
The nursing director is responsible for organizing and coordinating health care activities. In the event of a fire accident, these healthcare leaders will contact healthcare professionals within the hospital and coordinate with them to provide necessary care to the patients during the disaster.
Hospital Support and Operations Section Chief
This healthcare leader will be responsible for evaluating, controlling, repairing, and maintaining plant and utility systems necessary to facilitate the delivery of patient care during a disaster. Also, the operations officer will provide various resources needed to respond to the incident, such as water, fire extinguishers, and electric and medical gases, and even implement backup measures in case the hospital equipment fails due to the disaster.
