June’s Compliance Tip of the Month
Don’t Make Your Disaster Plan A Disaster
Billy Kinch, MHA, HACP-PE
Have you ever experienced during a debrief of a disaster event or exercise that staff were unaware of how the disaster plan works. A hospital disaster plan is designed to assist an organization when/if a disaster should occur, and the hospital must respond. It is not meant to dust off twice a year during an exercise. In my opinion, there are two key areas during a disaster. Those two areas are the front-line where staff are taking care of patients and the command center where leaders are managing the event and providing the front-line staff with resources. This article focuses on the command staff so that they will be able to provide support for those individuals involved in patient care.
When a disaster occurs and the emergency operations plan is activated, the command center is one of the first components that is put into play. Unfortunately, disasters do not occur at the most appropriate times. This is why it is important that the disaster plan be designed in a way that whoever is on duty and is required to set up the command center can do so efficiently. What does not need to happen is for someone to get to the command center and say,
“Now what?”
While your disaster plan needs to be an all-hazards approach that can work for any disaster event, the preparation of command center should be consistent for every event. How can a hospital accomplish this? Do not assume that every individual who has an assignment in the command center knows how to set up and operate it. Your adrenaline will be running high and your mind is going many different directions. The plan should provide a step-by-step direction of how to set up the command center so that any individual can do it. Knowing that every hospital is different, here is an example of what this might look like:
While your disaster plan needs to be an all-hazards approach that can work for any disaster event, the preparation of command center should be consistent for every event. How can a hospital accomplish this? Do not assume that every individual who has an assignment in the command center knows how to set up and operate it. Your adrenaline will be running high and your mind is going many different directions. The plan should provide a step-by-step direction of how to set up the command center so that any individual can do it. Knowing that every hospital is different, here is an example of what this might look like:
Command Center Activation
- Set out binders with Job Action Sheets
- Turn on main computer and screen. The username and password are ________. The instructions for the monitor are as follows ___________.
- Set up phones (phone numbers are provided on each phone) – If designated phones go into designated phone lines, then those must be labeled appropriately.
- Disaster radios are provided. Make sure that individuals sign these out as they receive them. Instructions on how to use the radios are attached to the radios.
- If the disaster is community-based, turn on the television to monitor news reports. The television is located _______. The remote is located ________. (If there are special instructions on how to turn everything on then this must be provided)
Setting up a command center can be a lot more difficult than the examples above. However, this is a basic concept of how to provide instructions to do so. Make it work for your organization and with the resources that you have available. It is important to include those individuals who could possibly set up a command center to be a part of this planning. It may seem easy and second nature to those of us who design the plan, but the chances are we will not be the first individual on site when a disaster occurs. Once the command center is set up then the rest of the response can occur. You train staff on how to respond to a disaster; however, the preparation for set-up is equally important. Don’t let your disaster start off as a disaster!
The CMS Condition of Participation for Emergency Preparedness is found at 482.15 Appendix Z along with the interpretive guidance.
CIHQ encourages organizations to evaluate their emergency operations plan to assure that they comply with the regulations to avoid a deficiency during survey.
ARS provides the following resources to assist organization with their compliance. There are additional tools and forms to the ones listed below and they can all be found in the ARS Resource Library:
- #1008 – Policy – Emergency Operations Plan
- #1145 – Tool – HICS 2014 Guidebook
- #1070 – Tool – HICS Based External Scenario Planning & Response Procedures
- #1071 – Tool – HICS Based Internal Scenario Planning & Response Procedures
- #1069 – Tool – HICA Incident Planning Guides Appendix E
- #1147 – Tool – HICA Incident Planning Guides Appendix F
- #1146 – Tool – Potential Candidates for HICS Command & General Staff
- #1148 – Tool – Hospital Incident Management Team
Webinar Center Archive:
- 11/11/2023 – Emergency Preparedness Requirements
Continue Education Center:
- Emergency Preparedness Requirement – November 20222
Staff Training Library
- Emergency Preparedness
