What are some of the biggest challenges in developing and implementing a preparedness exercise in a hospital setting?

What differences/similarities exist between hospital and municipal preparedness exercises

with APA references

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What are some of the biggest challenges in developing and implementing a preparedness exercise in a hospital setting?

Implementing preparedness plans for a hospital facility is critical for testing plans, policies, procedures, training, equipment, and inter-agency agreements, and it is a requirement for accreditation. Exercises help train personnel in roles and responsibilities, improve inter-agency coordination and communication, identify areas for improvement and improve individual and organizational performance through practice. Developing and implementing exercises does not come without its challenges though. Some prominent challenges to implementing exercises in a hospital setting include:

• 24/7 operation: Hospitals are busy places that are always open. Exercises must be designed in a way that normal operation can continue.
• Lack of Resources: It is often difficult to stockpile supplies for actual emergency events let alone have enough to use for exercises
• Time Constraints: Exercises must adhere to strict time constraints similar to a real emergency
• Funding: There are grants and federal funding available for preparedness exercises but they are limited. Hospital budget cuts affect exercise capability.
• Personnel Turnover: Due to hospital personnel turnover training must be ongoing for new staff

What differences/similarities exist between a hospital and municipal preparedness exercises?

Similarities include working with small exercise budgets, working around day to day operation, adapting to several learning styles and intelligence levels when teaching adults, motivating learners by instilling a sense of purpose and importance in the training, and potential conflicts that will require personnel to attend work matters and not be able to train. Both municipal and hospital preparedness exercises test plans and procedures, but the difference between the two are the plans and procedures being tested. Hospitals will test surge plans, decontamination plans, triage, and other clinical plans. Both will exercise communication and inter-agency coordination plans and procedures. The exercise process will be the same for both and involve the eight steps to exercise design: assess needs, define scope, write purpose statement, design objectives, compose a narrative, write major and detailed events, list expected actions, prepare messages. And, in the end, debrief or “hot wash” the exercise.

Fowkes, V., Blossom, H. J., Sandrock, C., Mitchell, B., & Brandstein, K. (2010). Exercises in emergency preparedness for health professionals in community clinics. Journal of community health, 35(5), 512–518. doi:10.1007/s10900-010-9221-1

Markenson, D. S., & Reilly, M. J. (2011). Health care emergency management: Principles and practice.Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett.

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Hospital Emergency Preparedness

Hospitals experience emergencies arising from both human and natural causes. Storms, terrorist attacks, contagious diseases, and fire require a quick and effective response to avert any further damage. However, many hospitals and staff are unprepared for these emergencies and crises. Thus, hospital emergency preparedness exercises are essential in ensuring that healthcare professionals understand and have the requisite skills and resources to handle emergencies (Skryabina, Reedy, Amlot, Jaye & Riley 274). This essay describes the major challenges in developing and implementing preparedness exercises in hospital settings and provides a comparison of municipal and hospital preparedness exercises

Hospitals face different challenges in emergency preparedness. One of the biggest problems is inadequate resources. The entire process of planning and holding emergency activities requires a lot of resources in terms of adequate staff and the funds for coordination and implementation (Fowkes, Blossom, Sandrock, 515). Most hospitals have overstretched their budgets, which makes it difficult for them to develop and implement preparedness exercises. The second challenge is time constraints. Preparing and implementing a preparedness exercise consumes a lot of time in planning, organizing, and executing. Most hospitals are overwhelmed by the high number of patients. As a result, staff cannot find time to plan and participate in the emergency exercises. Thus, inadequate time and limited resources are significant challenges facing hospital preparedness training and activities.

Municipal and hospital preparedness exercises compare and contrast in different areas. Both of them aim to enhance the knowledge and skills of responding to disasters or emergencies. They both require proper planning and implementation to achieve the desired outcome (The Heritage Foundation). They are carried out periodically to enhance disaster awareness and response. However, they differ in terms of their focus. While Municipal exercises target the entire public, hospital exercises target healthcare professionals.

References

Fowkes Virginia, Blossom John, Sandrock Chritian, Mitchel Brenda, & Brandstein, Kendra.

“Exercises in Emergency Preparedness for Health Professionals in Community Clinics.” Journal of Community Health35.5 (2010), 512-518

Skryabina Elena, Reedy Gabriel, Amlot Richard, Jaye Peter, & Riley, Paul. “What is the

Value of Health Emergency Preparedness Exercises: A Scoping Review Study.” International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 21 (2017), 274-283

The Heritage Foundation. Preparing Responders to Respond: The Challenges to Emergency

Preparedness in the 21st Century.Homeland Security, Accessed www.heritage.org/homeland-security/report/preparing-responders-respond-the-challenges-emergency-preparedness-the.

each response should be at least 150 words with APA reference