Inova Health System: A Case Study

Dr. Dan Hafling, an emergency department physician, researcher, and director of emergency management at Inova Health System states quite simply “until events of Sandy’s magnitude come along, emergency preparedness is just a box that has to be checked” (Begley, 2012). Following the disaster caused by Hurricane Irene, New Jersey hospitals should have been well prepared for any adversity brought by Hurricane Sandy. Though there was an effective and quick reaction towards recovery once the storm had passed, the preemptive measures taken to counter the impact of the hurricane could have been much more effective. According to the Emergency Management Survey 2014, 31% of the nation’s hospitals defined point-in-time and longitudinal surge capacity at the community level …show more content…
Federal reports concerning the tri-state area, after Hurricane Sandy’s devastation, found that nearly half the hospitals had surges in numbers of patients (Geoff, 2014). Unexpected circumstances, such as patient influx, may dilute the amount of resources available, but the inability to foresee evacuations and plan ahead shows a lack of initiative and preparedness. Hospitals must be able to quantify how many supplies will be needed to avoid evacuation yet account for possible patient surge. On a national level, approximately less than 50% of hospitals in the United States assessed for disaster supply storage, and less than 25% designated responsibility for retrieving supplies from the Strategic National Stockpile (Vesely et al., 2014). With an influx of patients, evacuees, and community members, the hospital will lose its ability to manage care and protection if rationing limited resources. Preventative measures must be taken to stop swamping hospitals that have their own rations of supplies and respective duties to their own