I have read your comments on the critical nature of HVA’s in emergency preparedness planning as well as their subjective nature. However, I do not notice that your call for HVA standardization is a novel but difficult task to implement. The basic idea for developing different HVA for different hospitals is mainly due to different backgrounds, perspectives, and environments. Standardization of the whole process might render HVA’s unintuitive and complicated since risk determination is one of the most problematic concepts in health emergency management. Picture a case where hospitals along the Atlantic coastline must plan for hazards such as hurricanes while hospitals in the Mid-West are not subject to hurricane hazards, and therefore do not need to anticipate them (Campbell, Trockman, and Walker, 2011).
In this case, I believe that as considerations are placed on standardizing HVA’s, it is important for hospital managers to be allowed some reasonable flexibility when analyzing anticipated or actual hazards against the risk context, and the vulnerability to each hazard included in the HVA. This way, hospital emergency managers will be able to develop compact HVA’s that are within their scope and suit their population and environment.
References:
Campbell, P., Trockman, S., & Walker, A. (2011). Strengthening Hazard Vulnerability Analysis: Results of Recent Research In Maine. Public Health Reports, 126(2), 290. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3056047/
Reading through your discussion, I have noted two key points. First, HVA development and risk analysis help prioritize and plan for emergency activities in health facilities. Second, HVA’s are subjective and developed based on the probability of occurrence and the community set up. In this case, I deem it appropriate that hospital emergency managers should involve all stakeholders such as police, firefighters, and emergency medical service departments to ensure that the HVA incorporates ideas from all players. Given the subjective nature of HVA’s, and the need to identify gaps and priorities when conducting a risk assessment, then it becomes quite important to collect accurate data which will help identify and estimate hazard probabilities. For this, I would like to suggest planning resource tools such as the Kaiser Permanente model which helps determine the levels of risk. The model takes input from the HVA group on the probability of hazards, threat impacts, mitigation and preparedness measures that have been taken to determine the risk levels for each specified hazard (SETRAC, 2016). However, such tools are only used for sampling purposes and cannot substitute comprehensive emergency preparedness plans. Therefore, if an organization or individual decides to use such tools, then they should understand that it is their sole responsibility to assess hazards and comply with the set legislation.
References:
SETRAC,. (2016). South East Texas Regional Advisory Council (SETRAC) – Hazard Vulnerability Analysis. Rhpc.us. Retrieved 6 April 2016, from http://www.rhpc.us/go/doc/4207/1598819/Hazard- Vulnerability-Analysis-
