Pro-Care Clinic is a general outpatient clinic facility that caters for basic health needs and mostly deals with outpatient issues (The Green Book). However, once in a while, the facility is required to handle serious issues that may require minor surgeries, child deliveries, or serious accidents. In such cases, the clinic admits the patients in its ward that accommodates 5 patients. Most of these cases are managed first before referring the patients to other equipped hospitals. The clinic has been known to handle these cases since there are no close hospitals in the neighborhood. The clinic has an administrator, 4 nurses, and 2 full-time doctors. Since the increase of these issues, the administrator has been requesting whether the facility can be expanded to a lower level hospital. Pro-care Clinic is found in a 3 storey commercial building.
There are different kinds of disasters and some are man-made while others occur naturally. When preparing for a disaster, organizations should prepare for all kinds, including floods, fires, hurricanes, terrorist attacks and chemical spills. Every health care facility should have a disaster plan that meets the needs of the community and facility (Richter 1). The responsibility to come up with this plan should be allocated to a disaster planning committee that includes people representing security, nursing staff, medical staff, communications, and administration. The responses may sometimes differ with the disaster since the situation must be handled based on its needs and seriousness. In this part of the country, we are likely to experience different kinds of natural disasters such as storms, floods, and hurricanes. The following is a description of how every event should be responded to.
In case of a bomb threat, the goal should be to protect the patients and medical professionals in the clinic. If the bomb threat is because of a suspicious package, no one should try to move, inspect, or touch the object. Everyone should be kept away from the suspicious package. The first thing should be for the person who found the package to report it to the nearest guard. The guard should then quickly ask if anyone knows the owner of the package. If no one claims the package, the alarms should be pulled alerting everyone to exit the clinic. Once this alarm is pulled, the nursing supervisor and hospital administrator should ensure every patient is escorted outside while the security officer calls 911 to alert the nearest law enforcement officers to respond. Once this is done, the evacuation plan to transport the patients to other health care facilities should be implemented.
In the case of a fire, the fire alarm should go off on its own by detecting the smoke. If it does not, it can be triggered manually by pulling a lever. The person who identifies the smoke should inform the security officers and also call 911 which will alert the fire department and inform them of the exact location of the health care facility. After reporting, if the fire can be contained safely, the fire should be put out using a fire extinguisher. In case the fire cannot be put out, the clinic administrator should start the evacuation plan (NDMA 41). The administrator should ensure that all patients are evacuated and they can check against the list of the admitted patients and the medical professionals on duty. When the fire department responds and assesses the damage, the clinic administrator should then decide whether to transfer the patients to other medical facilities with priority to be given to people with more serious medical conditions.
In the case of exposure to hazardous materials, the person exposed should report to the nearest medical officer who should then report to the clinic administrator. The administrator should seclude all the people who have come into contact with the substance from the other patients and medical professionals (NDMA 41). The administrator should call 911 and inform them of the situation in order for them to respond with the correct gear and qualified personnel. The personnel will assess the situation and provide guidance on how to respond. Once the evaluation is complete, the administrator will decide how to proceed depending on the seriousness of the situation.
The clinic will also have a response plan for security situations like a hostage situation. With the increase of shootings in schools and other institutions, this is a situation that the facility should prepare for. In such a situation, the medical professionals should be trained to keep calm and follow all the directions, not try to be heroes, and avoid eye contact. The professionals should know where the alarms are and how to trigger them in order to notify law enforcement officers. Upon contact with the law enforcement officers, the administrators and other medical professionals should work to ensure they keep other patients calm.
In the event of a flood, the clinic administrator should assess the situation and check on the condition of the patients to determine whether they can remain in the facility. The patients should be given more warm blankets and medical equipment to cater for any disease that may come as a result of the floods. The administrator should also ensure that the backup generator is fueled and can cater for the facility in case of a power blackout. The evacuation plan should be implemented if the clinic can no longer accommodate the patients. The administrator should assess the facility to ensure all damages are repaired and to check whether any equipment was damaged during the flood as well as report any losses of property (NDMA 57).
In case of a storm, the administrator should prepare the building ahead of time after receiving weather alerts regarding the storm; the preparations should be done ahead of time to control the effects of the storm. The medical professionals should ensure that the clinic has all the necessary equipment to cater for any cases that may result from the storm, including packed food, extra blankets, portable heaters, and lights. After the storm has hit, the administrator should assess the damage in order to report anything that should be renovated. The administrator should also work to ensure that all patients in the clinic beds are transferred to larger health care organizations or are discharged before the storm.
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Works Cited
National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). National Disaster Management Guidelines: Hospital Safety. New Delhi: National Disaster Management Authority, 2016.
Richter, Paul V. “Hospital disaster preparedness: meeting a requirement or preparing for the worst?” Healthcare facilities management series, 1997, pp. 1-11.
The Green Book. “Types of clinics and their services.” The Green Book, 23 March 2012, http://www.thegreenbook.com/types-of-clinics-and-their-services.htm. Accessed 28 January 2017.
