Healthcare Disaster Management

• Disaster management aims to maintain a safe healthcare environment and ensure continuous essential services during disasters.
• Key elements include preparedness, risk assessment, prevention, mitigation, response, recovery, and evaluation.
• Planning in advance is the most important aspect

Types of Advanced Planning Activities:

• Strategic planning prepares the organization for any type of threat.
• Contingency planning addresses site-specific threats that may occur.
• Forward planning focuses on known imminent disasters.

Internal vs. External Disasters:

• Internal: events within a facility that disrupt care, like utility loss or labor strikes.
• External: events outside the facility that create a high demand for services, such as mass trauma incidents.
• Management should maintain a safe environment, provide essential services, resolve the problem, and restore services.

Disaster Classification by Magnitude:

• Level I: The agency handles events effectively using its own resources.
• Level II: External assistance is needed but obtainable from nearby agencies.
• Level III: The disaster exceeds local capacity and requires state or federal assistance.

Considerations Related to Levels of Disasters:

• Level I: Assure employee competence in basic preparedness and maintain surge capacity.
• Level II: Ensure linkages with community organizations for support.
• Level III: Establish connections with state and federal organizations and understand the assistance request process.

Disaster Management Programs:

• A solid plan, relationships with public agencies, and mutual aid agreements are important for any disaster type.
• Programs consist of preparedness/risk assessment, mitigation, response, recovery.

Preparedness/Risk Assessment:

• Assess facility vulnerabilities and disaster susceptibility.
• Considerations include weather, location, events, facility condition, and nearby industries.

Mitigation:

• Measures to lessen disaster impact, like backup generators or cross-training staff.

Response:

• Implement the disaster plan using an incident command system (ICS), with simplicity and regular practice.

Recovery:

• The organization and staff must recover after the incident.
• Assign staff to maintain services, while others handle the disaster response.

Evaluation:

• Conduct a formal evaluation to identify successes and problems.

Phases of Disaster Management:

Risk assessment

• Disaster managers must consider which types of disasters are most likely to come about

Disaster Examples and Potential Effects:

• Accidents (transportation, industrial, nuclear): affect capacity and safety.
• Biological Events (epidemics, bioterrorism): Cause staffing shortages and increased patient needs.
• Civil Unrest (riots, strikes): Create staffing shortages from fear, and potential facility damage.
• Facility Failure (utilities): Affect patient care and safety.
• Geological Events (earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis): Cause staffing problems, increase patient volume, and damage.
• Warfare/Terrorism: Cause staffing problems and increased trauma.
• Weather (snowstorms, heat emergencies, hurricanes, floods): Affect staffing, increase census, damage, and interrupt utilities.

Disaster Management Principles:

• Non-structural: policies, zoning, and safety codes.
• Structural: monitoring systems and disaster shelters.

Disaster Planning Principles:

• The plan should be continuous, anticipate situations, enable response, use knowledge, educate, adapt, and integrate with existing structures.

Hospital Incident Command System (HICS):

• It is a management system for emergency response, with defined roles in a hierarchical structure.
• It has command chains and uses common terminology and unified command.

Key Features of Incident Command and HICS:

• It can be predictably implemented
• One incident commander bears overall responsibility
• Common nomenclature is used through all auxillary agencies
• Unified command structures ensure coordinated efforts by involved agencies
• It uses the Incident Action Plan(IAP) to coordinate responses

HICS Positions and Roles:

• Incident Commander: Organizes and directs operations.
• Safety Officer: Ensures safety of staff and facility.
• Liaison Officer: Contacts external agencies.
• Public Information Officer: Provides media information.
• Medical/Technical Specialists: Offer guidance.
• Planning Section Chief: Collects and distributes planning information.
• Logistics Section Chief: Ensures resource availability.
• Finance/Administrative Section Chief: Manages asset utilization.

Key Actions:

• Recovery: restore usual operations.
• Evaluation: assess the disaster response.

Operational Guidelines:

• The cluster manages incoming international humanitarian aid using guidelines.

Education and Training:

• The OCD coordinates training.

Disaster Management Communications:

• Focus on risk reduction and early warning systems.

Early Warning Systems:

• It consists of The Climate Experiment Project, Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards (NOAH), Philippine Geoportal.

Philippine Disaster Management Structure:

• The NDRRMC coordinates disaster management.
• Lead agencies: DSWD leads disaster response.

Partners:

• Red Cross: Delivers humanitarian aid.
• FAO: Works to eliminate hunger.
• GFDRR: Enables risk reduction activities.
• IOM: Supports internally displaced persons.

More Partners:

• JICA: Provides economic assistance for disaster risk reduction.
• OCHA: Strengthens humanitarian coordination.
• Plan International: Trains emergency response teams.
• Save the Children: Responds to disasters and helps vulnerable children.