Healthcare realities you can't ignore...anymore

Healthcare facilities: part domestic preparedness and part public safety.

Simply meeting building and fire codes do not equate to resiliency and checking off the Joint Commission preparedness requirements does not mean you're prepared.

Healthcare facilities will need to function before, during and after an event. The goal is to maintain operation as independently as possible for any foreseeable threat in your hazard vulnerability assessment. Those that can’t do that will need to evacuate or move their operations to another facility. Sheltering in place or evacuation are clearly realities each facility must face. They’re big decisions. Both options require substantial pre-planning and functionality between facilities.

Sheltering in place.

Deciding to remain in your facility during an event (sheltering in place) is not an easy choice. On the surface it may appear that staying put is a simple thing to do but, sheltering in place (making the decision not to evacuate ahead of a threat) comes with its own set of risks. Hopefully you have a robust 96-hour plan that you’ve trained on and tested. Hopefully it’ll see you through the situation. Even with solid planing, we have to has how long can you remain in your facility without outside support? Of course you have memorandums of understanding (MOU) with a variety of vendors as required by the Joint Commission. So, you're set. Right? The interesting thing about MOU's is that your vendor has an MOU with  all their clients, not just you. Will they be able to deliver their goods or services when demand is maxed out by all clients? Consider that infrastructure damage, such as damage to roads and bridges, will prevent shipments from making it to your supplier and further, prevent them from making delivery to you.

Part of sheltering in place is having a series of decision points or triggers that will tell you when its time to change tactics. Trigger events are situations that cause you reconsider your current position and may indicate the need for evacuation.

If you haven’t got a functional 96-hour plan or if your plans are questionable, you may want to consider evacuation ahead of a threat if possible.

Evacuation.

Evacuation of a healthcare facility is a major event. There are risks to go along with the benefits. Before you give the order to begin the evacuation process you need to consider the following:

• Will this be a full or partial evacuation?

• What is the available capacity of receiving facilities? Can they absorb the number of patients we wish to send?

• Have the receiving facilities damaged by the current event or are they in danger of being evacuated themselves?

• What resources are available to move people and equipment?

• What are the risks of going out into the environment?

Keep in mind that surge capacity may exist before an event, but not during or after. Evacuations must be done early or pre-event whenever possible. Ideally, your evacuation plans and triggers have been shared and tested with other facilities.