Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
provisions may be found in state “Good Samar-
itan,” emergency-management, or other statutes.
5. How will the institution ensure that adequate
personnel will be deployed, but not so many
that the institution becomes overrun dealing
with personnel instead of patients?
6. How is the information about available
personnel at these off-campus locations
communicated to the Incident Commander?
7. What occurs if one of the off-campus loca-
tions has its own demand for additional
personnel to respond to the crisis? Does the
institution's management plan contemplate a
response from multiple locations?
8. Have issues of food and rest been contem-
plated in choosing the staging areas?
9. Is the institution prepared to provide places
of rest for employees who are unable to
return home (e.g., cots, physician examina-
tion tables, unoccupied beds and administra-
tive offices, local motel rooms)?
10. Are these places of rest separate from patient-
care areas?
11. If employees will need to overstay their shift,
is adequate food available onsite to feed
them? If not, will the facility's usual food
suppliers be able to access the institution in an
emergency, or will the hospital need to seek
alternate suppliers (e.g., local restaurant(s))?
12. How will the institution handle employees'
need to contact their families?
13. Do the employees have family emergency
plans in place?
14. How will the institution handle employees
who need/demand to leave in order to safe-
guard their own families?
15. What occurs if certain employees demand to
leave, but it may be unsafe to do so? How
will the institution obtain information about
the surrounding streets? How will it convey
that information to its employees?
16. How will adequate staffing during the crisis
be ensured? Does the organization have an
1. Does the appropriate jurisdiction(s) provide
exemption from civil liability for emer-
gency care as provided in a Good Samar-
itan act, emergency-management laws, or other
statutes?
2. Has the organization's medical staff and allied
health practitioners been apprised of the appli-
cable statutes, and of their liabilities and immu-
nities during an emergency situation?
V. Logistics (Yellow)
The Logistics Section Chief arranges for the
needed support to operations, including delivery of
food and other supplies; assessment and safe use
of the facility, if in question (e.g., following an
earthquake or explosion); and equipping of rooms
and alternate-care sites if evacuation or relocation
becomes necessary.
46
A. Personnel
In an emergency situation, some staff will need to
remain on duty in order to maintain the continued
functioning of the organization and provide patient
care, while others may need to be released or evac-
uated. Plans should be in place to mobilize needed
personnel while effectively moving non-essential
staff away from the institution.
1. Who is responsible for notification of an
emergency situation to the organization's
employees and members of its medical staff?
How is such notification carried out?
2. Are staging areas assigned for specific groups
of employees?
3. Do the relevant employees know where those
staging areas are?
4. How are the staging areas for off-campus
locations (e.g., clinics, physicians, and back
offices) coordinated?
46
Field Operations Guide,
supra
note 13, at 9-3.
