1. Contingency planning requires an understanding of the crises that are most likely to occur, the potential impacts of those events, the resources that are needed to address those situations, and the most efficient means of accessing those resources. How has the center addressed each of these concerns?
YNH-CEPDR provides a complete solution to create a proper contingency planning system which includes risk mitigation planning and based on the anticipated impact the actual steps are planned and there are proper guidelines that are created and shared with the operations team so that the business continuity efforts can be in place, as soon as there is a situation which can be defined as crises as per the set guidelines.
2. The centers contingency planning strategy is based on collaborative partnerships. List the centers local and state partners. What other organizations would you add to this list or partnerships?
The Joint Commission, NIMS, CMS and NFPA are the organizations that act as partners as the center accepts their security guidelines and requirements and all of them have been merged together in order to create a package which is able to provide a very sound back up creation system and to manage the safety of both the business and life. It will also be beneficial to add a few organizations that work on disaster recovery management, so that the natural calamity related risks can also be adequately studied and managed.
3. Why is an integrated planning approach necessary for building healthcare capacity and providing a coordinated response to emergencies and disasters?
Most of the times, in case of emergencies and disasters, there can be a situation where the impact is a mixed one and the damage caused is a result of both, a disaster and other resultant emergencies. Taking an integrated approach enables the center to equip the healthcare centers to manage contingency in various situations and apply an integrated approach in order to resolve multiple issues and minimize impact easily. The use of different approaches, help to bring the expertise together where various situations get tackled thus saving time and reducing impact.
4. What is a needs assessment? What role did this play in the centers ability to provide disaster planning, education and training, clinical strategies, and logistical solutions to Connecticut"s healthcare delivery infrastructure?
Needs assessment is an extremely important part of business continuity planning and it provides the required information about the requirements related to the type of concerns that are present and need to be mitigated for a particular facility. It is very important to do the planning on the basis of the needs as the documentation and the planning education and training, clinical strategies, and logistical solutions are derived on the basis of the custom needs identified during the assessment.
5. What is the difference between a tabletop exercise and a full functioning disaster recovery drill? Identify the advantages and disadvantages of each.
A tabletop exercise is a simple discussion and information disclosure to update the employees and staff about the emergency and disaster management process. However in a disaster recovery drill a live evacuation and testing plan is executed and the results are measured in order to understand that the planned activities can be adequately executed within the desired timelines and that all the safety and security equipments are working properly e.g. emergency lights and fire alarms. The advantage of tabletop exercises is that it allows the staff members to participate and ask questions and on the other hand the advantage of a live drill is that it gives the opportunity to test the consequences in a live environment and also to check the status of the equipment working.
6. What is a Hospital Emergency Incident Command System? Identify, and explain the functions of, the five sections of an HEICS. Explain how an HEICS provides unity of command and helps to improve the quality of communication during disaster response.
HEICS is an important emergency management system which is based on an organizational chart and involves a procedure where charts are developed and followed. There are different sections of HEICS like ICS (Incident Planning), NIMS (Interoperability and Compatibility between hospitals), and EOP (Emergency Operations planning and development and HICS (Command centre to execute operations). The various functions of HEICS are responsible to plan and co-ordinate the compatibility between the hospitals and to initiate commands centrally for them to follow, in order to collectively meet situations of emergency and disaster.
7. Why are education and training important parts of contingency planning?
Although, the center can be involved in various exercises however till the time there is no active awareness among the staff, the plans cannot be executed in the right manner. Therefore, education and training are an important part of the centre and they ensure that the awareness among the staff members to complete so that whenever the plans have to be executed there is complete cooperation from all the members.
8. Why are Strategic national Stockpile resources not available during the first seventy-two hours of a disaster? Why is a coordinated stockpiling strategy better than having each hospital stockpile enough equipment, supplies, and pharmaceuticals to meet its own needs?
Strategic national Stockpile resources are not available for the initial 72 hours as for that the required approvals are needed and the required command for the release of the stock and the assessment of need takes the required time. In the time of a disaster it may not be possible for a hospital to access the stock which is arranged internally; hence it is always beneficial to arrange the stock at a distant location.
9. How does redundancy improve the reliability of communication systems?
Awareness is the key to safety in contingency planning exercises and therefore redundancy is an extremely helpful tool to ensure that there is a hundred percent communication of all the necessary requirements related to the plans that are made to meet the emergency situations. The redundancy helps to regularly update the resources about their role during an emergency plan and therefore it helps to ensure that the internal communication is exactly as per the requirements.
10. Why is surge capacity an important element of contingency planning for healthcare delivery organizations?
During an emergency situation, the hospitals are expected to play an expanded role by enabling more patients to be taken care of by the emergency departments, while taking care of the general recovery techniques and resoling own issues related to emergency management. The surge capacity therefore forms the primary part of the agenda of contingency management of the hospitals as services that they provide during emergency are one of the key expectations from them.
Works Cited
Taylor, M., Pletz, B., Cheu, D., & Russell, P. (2008). HOSPITAL EMERGENCY INCIDENT COMMAND SYSTEM. San Mateo: County Health Services Agency.
Yale New Heaven Health. (2008). What is your emergency preparedness planning strategy? Yale: Yale New Haven Center for Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Response.
YNHH. (2012, June 25). Yale New Haven Center for Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Response. Retrieved July 21, 2012, from http://www.ynhhs.org: http://www.ynhhs.org/emergency/index.html
