Disasters aren’t easily handled whether it’s natural or manmade, due to their unpredictability and tendency to overwhelm those impacted. Disaster plans are an integral key to preparing and guide an organization through the phases of an emergency. University Medical Center New Orleans stands in the exact same area that sustained catastrophic damage from Hurricane Katrina almost twelve years ago. University Medical Center defines an emergency as any unplanned event that may cause deaths or significant injuries to patients, staff or the public; or potentially shut down the hospital or disrupt operations and could call for an evacuation of the facility. This organization has devised a concise and direct evacuation plan that will aid its
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“UMCNO categorizes patients into one of the four categories ambulatory; wheelchair, bed bound, or seriously ill and specifies how they are to be transferred to a safe area by staff. Once patients are evacuated they will be triage by designated triage team made up of physicians and nurses who are responsible for the care of the patients”(University Medical Center of New Orleans 2015). In a hospital the size of UMCNO its staff well be outweighed by the number of patients creating is a recipe for pandemonium. In a perfect world a triage team will only be comprised of trained medical personnel, however, they may need assistance from nonmedical personnel such as unit clerks, transportation aides, and even cafeteria cashier if an evacuation is imminent. Unfortunately, UMCNO’s policy only policies the bulk of responsibly staff nurses and physicians in the transportation and triaging of patients during an evacuation. “Nurses suggest that that there should be certain teams made up of aid worked and trained volunteers with strong personalities, interested, energetic, and should be ready for action and familiar with up to date skills” (Nekooei et al., 2014, p.11). “While no one plan can address all possible risks, each institution must take its unique characteristics into account when developing disaster plans. Best practices for disaster planning include conducting thorough risk assessments, undertaking mitigation activities, such as relocation of research assets from high-risk areas, and developing and testing response strategies and recovery plans” (Mische & Wilkerson, 2016,
“UMCNO categorizes patients into one of the four categories ambulatory; wheelchair, bed bound, or seriously ill and specifies how they are to be transferred to a safe area by staff. Once patients are evacuated they will be triage by designated triage team made up of physicians and nurses who are responsible for the care of the patients”(University Medical Center of New Orleans 2015). In a hospital the size of UMCNO its staff well be outweighed by the number of patients creating is a recipe for pandemonium. In a perfect world a triage team will only be comprised of trained medical personnel, however, they may need assistance from nonmedical personnel such as unit clerks, transportation aides, and even cafeteria cashier if an evacuation is imminent. Unfortunately, UMCNO’s policy only policies the bulk of responsibly staff nurses and physicians in the transportation and triaging of patients during an evacuation. “Nurses suggest that that there should be certain teams made up of aid worked and trained volunteers with strong personalities, interested, energetic, and should be ready for action and familiar with up to date skills” (Nekooei et al., 2014, p.11). “While no one plan can address all possible risks, each institution must take its unique characteristics into account when developing disaster plans. Best practices for disaster planning include conducting thorough risk assessments, undertaking mitigation activities, such as relocation of research assets from high-risk areas, and developing and testing response strategies and recovery plans” (Mische & Wilkerson, 2016,