Description

Discussion Requirements

A substantive comment should be approximately 300 words or more for each of the responses ( 1 TOTAL).

Read the initial comments posted by your classmates and reflect upon them.

Before writing your comments:

  • Review the Discussion grading rubric to see what is expected for an excellent discussion, in order to earn full credit.
  • Review some resources to help you synthesize, such as the following:

Sullivan, J. (2011). Strategies for Synthesis Writing. Retrieved from http://www.findingdulcinea.com/features/edu/Strategies-for-Synthesis-Writing.html

NOTE: You are required to cite sources and include a reference list for the second post if it is simply your opinion. However, if your opinion is based on facts (as it should be), it is good practice to strengthen your position by citing sources.

Be sure to meet all of the criteria in the rubric, as noted in the instructions above.

Third post for each module discussion:

Read the initial and secondary comments posted by your classmates and reflect upon them.

Directly respond to at least one classmate in a way that extends meaningful discussions, adds new information, and/or offers alternative perspectives.

MY DISCUSSION (DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS POST PLEASE)

(DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS POST PLEASE)

(DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS POST PLEASE)

(DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS POST PLEASE)


Classmates and Professor,

Urban vs. Rural Surge Capacity

With disasters being unpredictable, in terms of when and the magnitude of their impact, countries need to ensure they have proper emergency response and surge capacity to help victims during the disaster. Hospitals and healthcare coalitions are being faced with the huge challenge of mitigating the disaster after a disaster has stricken. Health care facilities are recognizing the importance of surge planning as part of their emergency plan and response.

Challenges in preparing for medical surge capacity

One of the main challenges in medical surge capacity is funding. According to Casani & Romanosky (2006), in a bid to limit the rising health care cost, health economies in the United States are increasingly reducing acute care inpatient beds, which has contributed to the growth of home care and intermediate care facilities (Hsu, et al., 2006). As more hospitals seek to cut costs by reducing beds that are not used, this, in turn, affects the healthcare facility’s surge capacity. Since surge capacity encompasses the ability of health facilities to provide care to a surge of patients, this move of reducing hospital costs is going contrary to the objective of surge capability in the country. This challenge can be observed in both rural and urban health care facilities. Another challenge is that the fund provided by the federal government through the Hospital Preparedness Program and the CDC are strictly restricted. According to Smith (2009), the current grant programs given by health care facilities to improve surge capacity are strictly restricted as to how they use their funds.

For the country to develop an effective surge capacity, it required access to resources such as human, financial, and materials. During an emergency, the country requires staff who are specialized in emergency response. An example of specialist emergency staff includes the Rapid Response Team. These staffs are required to continually engage in training to improve their skills in managing disasters. This ensures that the team is well-skilled and prepared in the event of a disaster. In the rural areas, they may not get the opportunity to engage in training as much as the urban centers. With this consideration, disaster response teams in rural areas may not be well-equipped to handle a disaster. According to Adalja et al., (2014), following Hurricane Sandy, which adversely affected 14 United States and Washington DC. According to the authors, the States of New York and New Jersey were significantly hit by the hurricane. For this reason, New York City has significantly invested in disaster management and surge protection. The City suffered significant losses, which can be translated to why the state is investing significantly in surge capacity and disaster preparedness, compared to rural areas, which were not significantly impacted.

According to Rathnayake et al., (2019), healthcare providers are expected to prepare and anticipate any sudden increases in the number of patients due to the accelerated burden caused by disasters. The ability of health care providers to accommodate this sudden increase is referred to as surge capacity means. It is essential for countries and health care organizations to develop plans to mitigate disasters and emergencies to ensure that as many lives are saved from a disaster. The fact that rural facilities are not receiving the extra support urban facilities are receiving is disheartening. The United States government should ensure it puts as much effort into rural facilities as it is putting in urban areas.

Pedro

References

Adalja, A. A., Watson, M., Bouri, N., Minton, K., Morhard, R. C., & Toner, E. S. (2014). Absorbing citywide patient surge during Hurricane Sandy: a case study in accommodating multiple hospital evacuations. Annals of emergency medicine, 64(1), 66-73.

Hsu, E. B., Casani, J. A., Romanosky, A., Milin, M. G., Singleton, C. M., Donohue, J., . . . Kelen, G. D. (2006). Biosecurity and bioterrorism : biodefense strategy, practice, and science,. Are regional hospital pharmacies prepared for public health emergencies?, 4(3), 237–243 DOI.org/10.1089/bsp.2006.4.237.

Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. (2006). Surge Hospitals: Providing Safe Care in Emergencies. Retrieved from https://www.jointcommission.org/-/media/deprecated…

Rathnayake, D., Clarke, M., & Jayasooriya, L. (2019). Hospital surge capacity: The importance of better hospital pre-planning to cope with patient surge during dengue epidemics–A systematic review. International Journal of Healthcare Management, 1-8.

Smith, W. M. (2009, June). Financing surge capacity and preparedness. In Presented June (pp. 10-11).

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RESPONSE 1


CLASSMATE and Professor,

Medical surge is healthcare providers’ ability to respond to increased medical needs following an emergency/disaster. An explosion in an elementary school is a typical emergency that can overwhelm healthcare providers. According to Lynn (2019), such mass casualty incidents can easily overwhelm emergency medical services resources due to the high number of casualties, prompting emergency medical services providers to activate a triage system to identify patient treatments’ priority. In return, prioritizing treatment ensures that the scarce resources are optimized to achieve the emergency department’s best possible outcomes. However, emergency disaster unit heads should understand scenarios in which they should consult authorities, the precautions they should take to prevent any threats to their facilities, the composition of an emergency team, and establish a communication plan that should be used to engage stakeholders during the emergency.

Rural preparedness preparation efforts commonly concentrate on the requirements of area populations following community disasters or emergency conditions. Hardly any communities have contemplated the possibility for mass population inflow from neighboring cities in the outcome of a catastrophe or public health emergency. The likelihood of airlift from urban areas throughout such an event demands a better perceptive of rural competencies and evacuations’ possible effect on nearby communities.

The triage is a system that identifies the priority of patients’ treatment based on each patient’s medical needs and the chances of survival. It is a multi-level system that places patients at different levels that guide emergency medical service providers in prioritizing resource allocation. While first responders are responsible for providing first aid and other life-saving services to all casualties, they also classify these casualties into different triage levels to necessitate coordinated service delivery by medical providers (Goldschmidt & Bonvino, 2009). However, they should take the least possible time to classify these casualties to optimize the available time for life-saving and rescue activities. The four levels used by the civilian triage system are minimal, injured (moderate), immediate (severe), and presumed deceased.

References:

Goldschmidt, D., & Bonvino, R. (2009). Medical disaster response: A survival guide for hospitals in mass casualty events. Boca Raton: CRC Press.

Lynn, M. (2019). Disasters and mass casualty incidents: The nuts and bolts of preparedness and response to protracted and sudden-onset emergencies. Cham: Springer.

Respectfully,

Omar

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Module 3 – Background

SURGE CAPACITY AND THE ROLE OF HOSPITALS

Required Reading

Adalja, A. A., Watson, M., Bouri, N., Minton, K., Morhard, R. C., & Toner, E. S. (2014). Absorbing citywide patient surge during Hurricane Sandy: A case study in accommodating multiple hospital evacuations. Annals of Emergency Medicine, 64(1) 66. Available at Trident Online Library.

Cagliuso, N. (2014). Stakeholders’ experiences with US hospital emergency preparedness: Part 1. Journal of Business Continuity & Emergency Planning, 8(2) 156–168. Available at Trident Online Library.

Cagliuso, N. (2014). Stakeholders’ experiences with US hospital emergency preparedness — Part 2. Journal of Business Continuity & Emergency Planning, 8(3) 263–279. Available at Trident Online Library.

DHHS (2007). Medical surge capacity and capability: A management system for integrating medical and health resources during large-scale emergencies. Retrieved from https://www.phe.gov/Preparedness/planning/mscc/han…

Dichter, J.R., Kanter, R.K., Dries, D., Luyckx, V., Lim, M.L., Wilgis, J., . . . & Kisson, N. (2014). System-level planning, coordination, and communication. Chest, 146(4) e87S–e102S. Available at Trident Online Library.

Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (2006). Surge hospitals: Providing safe care in emergencies. Retrieved from https://www.jointcommission.org/assets/1/18/surge_…

On your mark, get set, triage! (n. d.). Emergency Physicians Monthly. Retrieved from http://epmonthly.com/article/on-your-mark-get-set-…

Ugarte, C. et al. (n. d.). Planning and triage in the disaster scenario. AAP.org. Retrieved from https://www.aap.org/en-us/Documents/disasters_dpac…

Required Websites

CDC.gov. Strategies for Optimizing the Supply of N95 Respirators. COVID-19. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/resp…

Healthcare Executives’ Role in Emergency Preparedness. American College of Healthcare Executives. https://www.ache.org/about-ache/our-story/our-comm…

Topic Collection: Hospital Surge Capacity and Immediate Bed Availability. HHS.gov. https://asprtracie.hhs.gov/technical-resources/58/…