Hospital Emergency Preparedness
Hospitals experience emergencies arising from both human and natural causes. Storms, terrorist attacks, contagious diseases, and fire require a quick and effective response to avert any further damage. However, many hospitals and staff are unprepared for these emergencies and crises. Thus, hospital emergency preparedness exercises are essential in ensuring that healthcare professionals understand and have the requisite skills and resources to handle emergencies (Skryabina, Reedy, Amlot, Jaye & Riley 274). This essay describes the major challenges in developing and implementing preparedness exercises in hospital settings and provides a comparison of municipal and hospital preparedness exercises
Hospitals face different challenges in emergency preparedness. One of the biggest problems is inadequate resources. The entire process of planning and holding emergency activities requires a lot of resources in terms of adequate staff and the funds for coordination and implementation (Fowkes, Blossom, Sandrock, 515). Most hospitals have overstretched their budgets, which makes it difficult for them to develop and implement preparedness exercises. The second challenge is time constraints. Preparing and implementing a preparedness exercise consumes a lot of time in planning, organizing, and executing. Most hospitals are overwhelmed by the high number of patients. As a result, staff cannot find time to plan and participate in the emergency exercises. Thus, inadequate time and limited resources are significant challenges facing hospital preparedness training and activities.
Municipal and hospital preparedness exercises compare and contrast in different areas. Both of them aim to enhance the knowledge and skills of responding to disasters or emergencies. They both require proper planning and implementation to achieve the desired outcome (The Heritage Foundation). They are carried out periodically to enhance disaster awareness and response. However, they differ in terms of their focus. While Municipal exercises target the entire public, hospital exercises target healthcare professionals.
References
Fowkes Virginia, Blossom John, Sandrock Chritian, Mitchel Brenda, & Brandstein, Kendra.
“Exercises in Emergency Preparedness for Health Professionals in Community Clinics.” Journal of Community Health 35.5 (2010), 512-518
Skryabina Elena, Reedy Gabriel, Amlot Richard, Jaye Peter, & Riley, Paul. “What is the
Value of Health Emergency Preparedness Exercises: A Scoping Review Study.” International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 21 (2017), 274-283
The Heritage Foundation. Preparing Responders to Respond: The Challenges to Emergency
Preparedness in the 21st Century. Homeland Security, Accessed www.heritage.org/homeland-security/report/preparing-responders-respond-the-challenges-emergency-preparedness-the.
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