Introduction
The intensive care unit is one of the risk prone areas in hospitals. The unit handles pretty complex patient cases and as such disasters and accidents are somewhat inevitable. This underscores the need of having sound disaster management mechanisms within this unit to insulate the hospital from various effects of disasters. Disaster management mechanisms are installed as proactive measures to shield the hospital from the devastating effects in the event of a disaster occurrence. As exemplified by Jamieson and Biddison (2014)-“Disaster Planning for the Intensive Care Unit: A Critical Framework. In The Organization of Critical Care” it is of utmost advantage of a hospital to have proper disaster management mechanisms within the ICU.
Disasters as well as well as other emergencies have significant effects on the health of the people that include injuries, disabilities, deaths, diseases and psychological problems. However, these health effects may be reduced or avoided through disaster risk management procedures undertaken by health institutions. On the other hand, disaster management requires proper planning by health care institutions so as to ensure efficient delivery of health services to the disaster victims. Therefore, healthcare institutions should develop a plan that covers all types of disasters. However, in developing a risk management plan health institutions should carry out a “hazard- vulnerability analysis” to determine the potential risk disasters that face the health institution. This enables the planners to allocate resources to potential disasters based on the occurrence of such disasters. Therefore, healthcare institutions should aim at promoting critical health care through the allocation of resources to intensive care units and maximizing the use of available space and medical personnel. In addition, planning should incorporate vertical as well as horizontal evacuation of the victims (Jamieson & Biddison, 2013).
Financial
Installing proper disaster management mechanisms within the ICU attracts a lot of incentives to a hospital. These incentives range from financial, human resources to reputational. Hospitals are squarely concerned with the financial stability and security of the facility and in this sense, installing proper disaster management mechanisms within the ICU has a lot of financial impacts in any clinical setting. Hospitals take financial responsibility of all accidents that occur within all departments. For instance, various hospitals have adopted compensation programs to compensate the staff member who get injured within the line of duty. As such, in the event of the occurrence of a disaster that may lead to injury or accident of workers or patients, the bill is squarely on the hospital’s side. Similarly, occurrences of disasters such as fires lead to destruction of hospital property that requires hospitals to dig deeper into their pockets to restore the facilities.
Personnel
Motivation of hospital personnel within the ICU is directly linked to the level of safety that they experience within their workplaces. Therefore, installation of disaster management mechanisms fosters a safe working environment that boosts the morale of the staff and subsequently the quality of services that they render.
Patient care
According to Jamieson & Biddison (2013), the level of preparedness to disasters in healthcare settings has a significant impact on the quality of care provided in such situations. In the rush of things, especially where there is a shortage of staff amidst an unprecedented number of patients requiring acre, the physicians and nurses may be overwhelmed by the events and compromise on the quality of care. This presents a case of further complications, readmissions and errors in medication, treatment and therapy. The healthcare system must thus provide channels, either through infrastructure or equipment that can help the medical personnel in overcoming challenges in such situations so that the quality of care provided to the patient is not compromised. Jamieson & Biddison (2013) note that outsourcing may not be the ultimate situations in such cases since the level of activity and the complications during disasters may not allow enough time to communicate the process of outsourcing. Rather, proper management of available resources to support the personnel would provide realistic approaches.
Reputation
In the modern consumerist world and subsequently healthcare systems, reputation is of great importance. This means that hospitals are striving to uphold a good reputation in order to attract patients and subsequently funding and scholarships among other incentives. Reputation is tethered to patient and staff safety. Through proper and effective disaster management programs, a hospital can attract a lot of preferences due to increasing staff and patient confidence.
Legal ramifications
Failure to secure the safety of patients and hospitals may attract a myriad of legal ramifications in the form of compensations in the event of injury, harm or death. These range from cancelation of operating licenses to more severe legal punishments of the hospital management.
References
Jamieson, D. B., & Biddison, E. L. D. (2014). Disaster Planning for the Intensive Care Unit: A Critical Framework. In The Organization of Critical Care (pp. 261-275). Springer New York.
