EmmaClark145

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The main task of any health care facility is to ensure a continuum of optimum patient care. In order to deliver and maintain an efficient functional performance, hospitals abide by rigid regulations, standards, codes, and procedures. Such approach provides an objective rationale for hospital operational management and minimizes personal decision-making and subsequent responsibility when acting in standard and emergency situations. It mitigates the risk of staff misconduct, misunderstanding, professional errors, and dispute. It is very important to follow this rationale during external emergencies, such as natural disasters. This challenging environment requires fast and impartial decision-making. It is critical for the hospital management to be aware of geo-specific disasters and prepared to act in case of emergency situations. Some experts believe that it is necessary to grant immunity to health care professionals from most civil lawsuits for their decisions and solutions during emergencies related to casualty disasters. However, I believe that such situations should be treated in quite the opposite way. Hospital management should be prepared to form an Emergency Coordination Center (ECC) and hospital personnel should be trained to carry out emergency plan initiatives.
If I were an Emergency Coordinator for Hospital A during its experience of a debilitating ice storm with the loss of power for the next five to seven days, I would ensure that hospital facilities could become a shelter for the employee families (Fried & Fottler, 2008). I would do it for two reasons. On the one hand, by allowing single parents to bring their children and other employees to come in or stay after their shift to have a warm place to be, I would not have to deal with the resulting staff shortage. If I refuse to accommodate employees and their children, the risk that members of both groups will get sick from staying at home with no heating increases. The staff shortage would only aggravate the current problem with deficit resources. On the other hand, if more people get sick it would only increase the imbalance between the number of patients and care personnel. At the same time, I would have to keep in mind that a hospital is a hazardous environment not only due to the presence of drugs, medical supplies, oxygen cylinders, but also due to the presence of sterile and contaminated areas for patients. It is also necessary to ensure that the presence of children, pets, and the rest of co-workers will not interfere with the performance of personnel on the shift. I believe that the best solution is to accommodate pets separately from their owners. It would be a separate room, while animals would be locked and fed on a regular basis. Such solution would eliminate distraction of personnel, patients and visitors and would guarantee common safety. The children would be accommodated in a separate room and I would assign the remaining staff to take turns looking after the children and feeding the pets while their parents and owners are on the shift. Such solution would ensure that parents would not worry about safety and engagement of their children and would fully devote themselves to performing their on-job responsibilities. At the same time, employees will have a grounded reason to stay at the hospital after the shift to perform a valuable function of child care. In my opinion, this is a win-win solution to this challenge.
In order to plan for this type of expectation in the future, it is necessary to discuss this situation with the city counsel and generate a comprehensive response to the challenge. It is necessary to ensure that shelter opportunities should be available to all members of surrounding communities in case of emergencies. If grounds permit, such shelter for children can be organized within hospital premises. Otherwise, a shelter can be arranged in a special building equipped with an emergency generator to keep it a warm. Working parents should have an opportunity to place their children in a shelter under the care of volunteers. Another shelter should be arranged for pets for the similar reasons and provide appropriate conditions of stay. Such initiatives would provide a comprehensive solution to the problem in case of emergency. A hospital would be relieved of the need to handle this issue internally in the future. This solution should be governed by and fit the principle achieving the greatest good for the greatest number of people.

2021-04-19 19:58:30, views: 26, Comments: 0