Hospitals disasters

Hospitals and other health care facilities may further classify disasters as either internal or external. External disasters are those that do not affect the hospital infrastructure but do tax hospital resources due to numbers of patients or types of injuries (Cans, 2001). For example, a tornado that produced numerous injuries and deaths in a community would be considered an external disaster. Internal disasters cause disruption of normal hospital function due to injuries or deaths of hospital personnel or damage to the physical plant, as with a hospital fire, power failure, or chemical spill (Aghababian, Lewis, Cans, Curley, 1994). Unfortunately, one type of hospital disaster does not necessarily preclude the other, and features of both internal and external disasters may be present if a natural phenomenon affects both the community and the hospital. This was the case with Hurricane Andrew (1992), which caused significant destruction in hospitals, in clinics, and in the surrounding community when it struck south Florida (Sabatino, 1992), and Hurricane Katrina (2005) when it impacted the Gulf Coast, rupturing the levee in New Orleans (Berggren, 2005). 

Auf der Heide, E. (2002). Principles of hospital disaster planning. In D. E. Hogan J. L. Burstein (Eds.), Disaster medicine. Philadelphia Lippincott Williams Wilkins. 

Wolfson, J., Walker, G. (1993). Hospital disaster preparedness Lessons from Hurricane Andrew. Florida Public Health Information Center, College of Public Health, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL. 

Each position in HICS has a specific functional role that is described on a JAS. Each JAS includes functional role title what role title that position reports to the mission of the position and immediate, intermediate, and extended tasks. Figure 8.7 provides examples of functional role JAS. When developing a hospital disaster plan based on HICS, the manager should review established HICS JASs and adapt them to the organization. 

Cosgrove, S., Jenckes, M., Kohri, K., Hsu, E., Green, G., Feurestein, C., et al. (2004). Evaluation of hospital disaster drills. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Available at http //www.ahrq.gov/research/hospdrills/index.html... 

Krajewski, K., Sztajnkrycer, M., Baez, A. (2005). Hospital disaster preparedness in the United States New issues, new chal-... 

Richter, P. V. (1997). Hospital disaster preparedness Meeting a requirement or preparing for the worst Healthcare Facilities Management Series, 1-11. 

Williamson, C. R. (1994). Emergency preparedness A hospital disaster plan. Journal of Healthcare Protection Management, 10(2), 116-121. 

Children may be separated from their parents and family members if they are deemed to be contagious. If children are quarantined, parents may not be able to visit. Young children may experience separation anxiety and they may not respond to staff members. Nurses and health care professionals must be able to distinguish separation anxiety and fear of abandonment from a worsening neurologic status. Children who are quarantined require extra staff for their care because they cannot care for themselves, and their health condition must be closely monitored. Plans for the care of quarantined children and families must be included in community and hospital disaster planning. 

Pre-hospital disaster care in France is controlled by two national response plans, called red (Plan Rouge http //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Plan rouge) and white (Plan Blanc http //www. sante.gouv. fr/htm/actu/3 l 030814b.htm http // en/wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan blanc). The red plan concerns the rescue and evacuation of victims from a disaster site by the fire and rescue service. The plan provides for an overall on-site commander (COS) who controls a fire and rescue and a... 

Diamond, J. and G.M. CiampaneUi. Integrated Emergency Management Hospital Disaster Planning, Topics in Emergency Medicine, 20 2, June 1998. 

Chemical incident planning should be integrated into standard hospital disaster plans and should have the direct involvement of emergency medical staff who will be expected to receive casualties with toxic trauma. 

There had been no emergency service planning for a chemical event, nor any emergency medical services special training. Equally there was no chemical hospital disaster plan. 

The management of casualties following toxic agent release must be integrated into hospital disaster plans, and appropriate equipment and training should be provided. 

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