Emergency Managment in Healthcare

Emergency management should be a part of every healthcare facilities contingency plan. The goal is to aid the public in the recovery and response phase of disaster planning. There are many facets to disaster planning and healthcare facilities play a major role in them. Every emergency management plan should include all threats that are specific to their geographical area. It is vital for the local companies to pass on particular threats within their walls to local authorities that deal with emergency management.

The major principles involved in the process of preparing for a disaster is to have a knowledgeable, well-trained team who will respond quickly and decisively. It is vital for healthcare facilities to have an active emergency management plan for many reasons. The primary reason for this is because these facilities are essential to every emergency plan. Every major disaster that occurs in the world, healthcare facilities are at the core of caring for those who become injured. "In any major natural disaster, the main rescue effort will most likely be executed by local authorities during the first 48-hour period to ensure a timely response for the severely injured" ("Essentials of disaster planning," 2005, para. 3). All plans need to be able to be immediately executed so there is no delay in the recovery effort. Training for such disasters is key in having all members aware of what their responsibilities are.

Healthcare workers primarily care for the severely injured. This can be on the site of the disaster or taken to the healthcare facility for treatment. The major principles are mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. Mitigation and preparedness are vital in carrying out the final two stages. It is also an integral part of saving the most lives when a disaster strikes. Mitigation is a type of long-term, pre-disaster planning which involves repeated expenditures on structural and non-structural issues in an attempt to reduce or eliminate future risks. Mitigation in practice usually considers the medium or long-term prospects of safety, and mitigation is the cornerstone of emergency management as it is practiced today. In many way, it is the classic example of thinking ahead, using common sense, and doing whatever it takes to achieve some payoff in the future.

There are major challenges in formulating emergency management plans, especially in areas that are more rural. Generally, rural areas have a major hospital many miles away. This creates a challenge to aid in the response and recovery efforts and having qualified healthcare workers on the scene. There are areas of the country, which are prone to natural disasters, and are in remote areas. "The assumption is that rural emergency management is just a leaner, smaller version of urban emergency management. The reality is that rural emergency management faces challenges that are unfamiliar and often unknown in urban areas" (Bryant, 2009, para. 19). This is important to areas like tornado alley, an area of the country that is prone to disasters but lack major medical facilities.

There are a number of disasters that can affect a healthcare facility. Some facilities are prone to more natural disasters than others. These include but are not limited to hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes. There are other types of disasters that can occur at anytime in any geographical area. This can include fires or technological disasters in which there is a breakdown in the infrastructure of electronics. In any of these situations, the staff needs to be aware of the critical first steps to ensure safety. When there is a disaster in which lives are at stake, the response and recovery needs to be quick and decisive. Reaching the rural community and assisting those injured, time becomes the greatest