The Joint Commission and the Centers for Medicare
& Medicaid Services require that health care entities
maintain “all-hazard” emergency preparedness and response
capability and capacity. Leveraging virtual reality (VR) as a
training modality for emergency management training holds great
promise as an effective, realistic, immersive, and scalable
health care training strategy. This session discussed adult
learning theory, emergency management training challenges and
strategies, and how virtual reality provides an efficient
alternative to traditional training methods.
The public information officer (PIO) is a vital part of the
incident command team, charged with delivering accurate
information to the right people at the right time. This session
will review the role of the PIO and present attendees with
strategies for utilizing social media for emergency
communications.
Presenter:
Valerie Lakey, Executive Director,
Mayers Memorial Hospital District
On April 26, 2017, the Forum on Medical and Public Health
Preparedness for Disasters and Emergencies convened a workshop
during a 4-hour session of the 2017 Preparedness Summit.1
Participants discussed potential characteristics of society
in the year 2042 and the key resources, tools, and opportunities
necessary to support the development of a robust, scalable,
and regularly engaged disaster health volunteer workforce
prepared for such a future.
Read entire document here.
On January 11, 2017 ASPR TRACIE hosted a webinar on the
newly-released 2017-2022 Health Care Preparedness and Response
Capabilities. The webinar is archived and available for viewing
on the ASPR TRACIE
website.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of
the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR)
leads the country in preparing for, responding to, and recovering
from the adverse health effects of emergencies and disasters.
This is accomplished by supporting the nation’s ability to
withstand adversity, strengthening health and emergency response
systems, and enhancing national health security. ASPR’s Hospital
Preparedness Program (HPP) enables the health care delivery
system to save lives during emergencies and disaster events that
exceed the day-to-day capacity and capability of existing health
and emergency response systems. HPP is the only source of federal
funding for health care delivery system readiness, intended to
improve patient outcomes, minimize the need for federal and
supplemental state resources during emergencies, and enable rapid
recovery. HPP prepares the health care delivery system to save
lives through the development of health care coalitions (HCCs)
that incentivize diverse and often competitive health care
organizations with differing priorities and objectives to work
together.
ASPR developed the
2017-2022 Health Care Preparedness and Response Capabilities
guidance to describe what the health care delivery system,
including HCCs, hospitals, and emergency medical services (EMS),
have to do to effectively prepare for and respond to emergencies
that impact the public’s health. Each jurisdiction, including
emergency management organizations and public health agencies,
provides key support to the health care delivery system.
This core competencies list provides the disaster preparedness
and response knowledge, skills and abilities needed by relevant
types of hospital personnel given the current state of the art of
CBRNE hazards and healthcare system vulnerabilities.
Applying these competencies will assist hospitals in the
development, implementation, coordination, and evaluation of
disaster preparedness and response training programs.
Attached is the Shelter-In-Place (SIP) Planning Checklist
developed by CHA. The tool includes a decision-making algorithm
for SIP and evacuation activation.
The Checklist and decision tree may be used to assist hospitals
with developing, reviewing or updating their plans. Updated
hospital evacuation plans and shelter in place protocols that
document a hospital’s critical decision making processes are a
Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP) Year 7 requirement.
The document was developed as a tool to help hospitals ensure
that elements listed have been addressed in their plans,
policies and procedures.
The “Reference” column is to allow each hospital to note where in
their documentation each item is addressed. The decision tree is
to allow you to consider the critical decision making factors.
This is a Tool for the hospital, and is not for submission to the
County.
It is important to note that there are a number of situations or
events that may require or lead a hospital to decide to shelter
in place and, therefore, to plan in advance for those situations.
Please also note that your plan should include what happens to
those “locked out” when you are “locked down” (identify a
sheltering site(s) outside of locked-down facilities). Also note
that SIP differs depending on the type of event.
