Effective Emergency Management Strategies for Hospitals
Hospitals provide community members with essential medical care, especially following a disaster or other critical event. However, these events place undue strain on the finite resources of hospitals and their staff. That is why these organizations must have comprehensive management strategies in place to address the potential impacts of these cataclysmic events.
Approximately 80 percent of hospitals addressed each of the six types of disasters in their critical incident strategies. Unfortunately, only 17.5 percent of hospitals believe that their disaster plans are “very sufficient.”
In light of that fact, we wanted to go over effective strategies that hospitals can deploy for critical incident management purposes. We’ve outlined these tactics below.
Implement the Hospital Incident Command System
The Hospital Incident Command System (HICS) is an incident management system designed specifically for hospitals. The HICS-based incident command structure uses the principles of FEMA’s Incident Command System. The purpose of HICS is to help hospitals and other healthcare organizations improve their critical incident response. This system also addresses the planning and post-incident recovery capabilities of hospitals.
The HICS is the most comprehensive incident management system available and offers substantial benefits over less-dynamic strategies. Organizations like Juvare assist hospitals in implementing this safety protocol to remain prepared for both planned and unplanned critical incidents.
Deploy Innovative Technologies
Hospital leadership is tasked with providing quality care to patients while also maintaining a safe working environment for staff. They must execute both responsibilities during normal operations and amid a critical incident or medical crisis. Considering all of the factors and obstacles, accomplishing quality patient care and workplace safety can be incredibly challenging.
If hospital decision-makers and stakeholders hope to overcome these challenges, they need to use innovative tech solutions, such as:
Patient Tracking Software
Patient tracking is an integral part of day-to-day operations for hospitals and care providers. They must be able to track inbound patients so that staff can prepare to provide adequate life-saving interventions. In addition, the hospital should implement an organized tracking method to monitor patients as they transfer to different departments within the facility.
Modern patient tracking software is a valuable asset to hospitals and providers. This technology allows for secure data sharing and coordination between different staff members. Patient tracking software will help hospitals provide a higher level of care, especially when experiencing a patient surge.
Fully Integrated Incident Management Solutions
A fully integrated incident management solution gives hospitals and multi-location healthcare groups unparalleled flexibility during a crisis. This suite of tools can keep staff members connected with automated push notifications. They also promote easier collaboration, which facilitates a faster response to the needs of the community.
Contact Tracing
Recent events have pushed issues like contact tracing and case management to the forefront of many hospitals’ priority lists. At the start of the pandemic, hospitals had to rely on hastily constructed contact tracing tactics that were inefficient and tedious.
However, cutting-edge contact tracing solutions offer hospitals ready-to-use workflows and user-friendly processes that will help them curb the spread of various diseases. These technologies are customizable and highly configurable, which means that they can benefit hospitals of all sizes.
By deploying the technologies and strategies outlined above, hospital stakeholders can provide a higher level of patient care while also preparing to respond to a critical incident.
