Essay on Health Care Emergency Preparedness: A Hospital Emergency Manager's Role

Introduction

The health industry is vulnerable to multiple disasters, including infectious diseases, hurricanes, earthquakes, and other natural disasters (Upton et al., 2017). For this reason, health care organizations need to be prepared for emergency response. Alexander noted that emergency planning is an essential activity for any organization (2017, p. 7). A hospital emergency manager plays a significant role in ensuring the safety and emergency preparedness of the hospital and the community at large. The manager has the responsibility of responding to disasters and managing the crisis in the hospital. The role of an emergency manager encompasses coordination and planning. To achieve this, a manager needs to collect information to prepare emergency plans. Emergency plans help to reduce damages and complications related to emergency events. This paper aims to discuss my role and plans for future action as a new emergency manager for a hospital.

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Roles

There are several roles that I will play as a new emergency manager in my first 60 days. They include promoting safety, creating awareness, coordinating, communicating, and gathering information about emergencies. My primary role is to protect the hospital staff, patients, and the community through emergency preparedness (Ciarrocchi, 2019). This is because it is my responsibility to promote the well being of hospital employees. This includes protecting health care providers from violence by the patients. To promote safety, I will train others on emergency preparedness. This will involve designing and implementing courses for staff and community members that educate them on how to react to emergencies (Chang & Neal, 2019). I will also collaborate with the emergency management team and other stakeholders to communicate properly to all hospital staff and the general public. Communication is also essential for operation during an emergency (Liu et al., 2018). This will ensure that they are well educated on emergency events. I will also use technology, such as an incidence command system, to enhance preparedness (Autrey & Moss, 2006). Technology enables managers to make decisions such as evacuation (Gudishala & Wilmot, 2017)

As an emergency manager, I need to keep up with new developments in the healthcare industry. Alexander argued that to create a workable emergency plan, it is crucial to understand the hazards that affect an area. They tend to be recurrent and follow a definable path (2017, p., 32). Therefore, I will attend conferences and other significant events that will enable me to collect up-to-date information as well as learn best practices from other attendees. The other role that I will play is to coordinate emergency response efforts. Through this, I will ensure that emergency response plans are implemented as required. I will also raise awareness by training the community.

Plans For Future Actions

My plans for future actions include advising healthcare emergency coordinators, gaining support, establishing an emergency management committee, and developing an emergency management program. To advise coordinators, I first establish a credible relationship with them (Liu et al., 2018). I will then use my experience and research from the community to engage in consensus-creations activities. This will enable me to build a professional network for emergency response.

The process of addressing emergency is a continuous process due to the changing needs (Zicko et al., 2017). As a result, it isn't easy to handle without the support of other stakeholders. Therefore, in the future, I will invite other decision-makers to participate in the emergency preparedness process. This will involve building a network of different stakeholders. Backup meetings will be established so that the stakeholders can share information necessary for emergency planning (Zicko et al., 2017). Through these meetings, the intrinsic motivations of individuals will be tapped.

Emergency response requires a multi-disciplinary team that will guide the entire process. Upton et al. (2017) argued that health care coalitions play an important role in preparedness, response, and recovery from an emergency event in the United States. The research gave the example of the advisory committee of South East Texas on their exemplary response to Hurricane Harvey. Therefore, I will develop an emergency management committee that will develop processes, policies, and procedures, as well as obtaining the required resources. The committee will also ensure an organized and effective response. The committee will comprise of members of the organization and external members. The committee will also assist in organizing internal and external events related to emergency response.

The other action that I will take in the future is to develop an emergency management program. The program will help in designing, organizing, and implementation of emergency preparedness plans. The program will also outline plans and timelines for completing vital tasks. According to research by (Campbell 2019), one of the gaps in hospital emergency management capabilities is inconsistent program evaluation metrics and processes that prevent professional role and purpose. Therefore, I will prevent this problem of inconsistency by evaluating the program regularly.

Conclusion

This paper discussed my plans for future actions as an emergency manager. Emergency Planning is essential in the health care system (Cagliuso, Leahy & Sandoval, 2010). In the first 60 days of my new role, I will promote the safety of all staff in the hospital, create awareness, communicate, and collect information. My plans include advising emergency coordinators, seeking support from stakeholders, developing emergency management committees, and programs. These actions will increase the effectiveness of emergency preparedness and response.

References

Alexander, D. E. (2017). How to write an emergency plan. Dunedin Academic Press Ltd.

Autrey, P., & Moss, J. (2006). High-reliability teams and situation awareness: implementing a hospital emergency incident command system. JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration, 36(2), 67-72.

Cagliuso, N. V., Leahy, N. E., & Sandoval, M. (2010). Developing the hospital emergency management plan. Health Care Emergency Management: Principles and Practice’, Jones and Bartlett, Sudbury, MA, 89-110.

Campbell, J. G. (2019). Hospital emergency management: A programing and profession assessment. Journal of emergency management (Weston, Mass.), 17(5), 349-357.

Chang, R. H., & Neal, D. (2019). Promotion or transition: From fire officer to emergency manager. Journal of emergency management, 17(2), 101-110.

Ciarrocchi, D. P. (2019). Leading in Disaster: A Qualitative Study on the Role of the Emergency Manager (Doctoral dissertation, Northcentral University).

Gudishala, R., & Wilmot, C. (2017). Modeling emergency managers’ hurricane evacuation decisions. Transportation Research Record, 2604(1), 82-87.

Liu, B. F., Fowler, B. M., Roberts, H. A., & Herovic, E. (2018). Keeping hospitals operating during disasters through crisis communication preparedness. Public Relations Review, 44(4), 585-597.

Upton, L., Kirsch, T. D., Harvey, M., & Hanfling, D. (2017). Health care coalitions as response organizations: Houston after Hurricane Harvey. Disaster medicine and public health preparedness, 11(6), 637-639.

Zicko, C. J. M., Schroeder, L. R. A., Byers, C. W. S., Taylor, L. A. M., & Spence, C. D. L. (2017). Behavioral emergency response team: implementation improves patient safety, staff safety, and staff collaboration. Worldviews on EvidenceBased Nursing, 14(5), 377-384.