Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
2. What code is called via the overhead paging
system to announce the disaster and trigger
implementation of the institution's emergency
management plan?
3. Where is the organization's staff to report after
an emergency is declared, and how will the
organization account for their location? How
will staff member locations be recorded (e.g.,
by sign-in sheet)?
a. Where is the institution's Command
Center primarily located, and under what
circumstances might it be moved to an
alternate location? Is the Command Center
appropriately outfitted, and is it available
for immediate use?
b. What resources in the Command Center
might individual staff contribute as part of
planning?
i Are personal contact numbers for rele-
vant staff (e.g., home and cell tele-
phones, personal fax number, e-mail
address) available to the Command
Center?
ii Are the personal contact numbers of
contacts at governmental offices, sister
institutions, and important vendors
available to the Command Center?
4. Have the organization's operations personnel
been briefed with respect to the personal
role and skills of individual staff, and how
may those individuals assist an Incident
Commander coordinating a response to an
emergency?
5. Have personnel and medical staff members
been provided with information to enable them
to develop family emergency plans, so that
they can be confident of their families' safety
while they fulfill their obligations to respond
during an emergency situation?
B. Command Center
The Command Center is the location from which
the response to the emergency will be coordinated.
It needs to be located and equipped in such a
manner as to facilitate an appropriate response to
the disaster, regardless of whether its scope is large
or small.
1. Has
the
institution established a
formal
Command Center?
2.
In choosing a location, has the institution
considered what types of emergencies to which
the institution will need to respond, so that the
center is located in an easily accessible loca-
tion that is close to the response, but not so
close as to risk interfering with it?
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3.
Is the Command Center connected with the
institution's emergency generators?
4.
Is it properly equipped with the following
resources?
a. Computers, e-mail, the organization's
intranet, Internet access, phones, pagers,
radios, and other resources in order
to fulfill an institution's communica-
tion needs?
b. Paper, pens, and markers for handwritten
communication needs?
c. Sufficient information about the institu-
tion's resources (and made easily acces-
sible and searchable) to enable the
functioning of an Incident Commander
who may be unfamiliar with the hospital's
major relationships and personnel?
d. Easy access to institutional policies,
both those needed for routine operations
(e.g., Administration Policy and Procedure
Manual, Medical Staff Bylaws) and any
policies and procedures that have been
adopted in anticipation of an emergency?
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For example, locating a command center in an emergency room that might have to deal with a mass casualty response may risk
pulling people into the Emergency Department who will have administrative but not clinical responsibilities and so may inadvertently
interfere with the response.
