Module 8 emergency preparedness Flashcards
Complex human emergencies are associated with
global instability economic decay political upheaval collapse of government structures violence and civil conflicts famine mass population displacements
Disaster defined as
Serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society at any scale due to hazardous events interacting with conditions of exposure, vulnerability and capacity, leading to one or more of the following:
- human loss
- material loss
- economic loss and impact
- environmental loss and impact
ecological disruption or emergency
Results in deaths, injuries, illness, and property damage that cannot be effectively managed using routine procedures or resources.
health disaster
Catastrophic event that results in casualties that overwhelm the healthcare resources in the community and may result in a sudden surge of patients, a change in standards of care, and a need to allocate scarce resources
hazard
potential threat to humans and their welfare
- presents the possibility of the occurrence of a disaster.
Risk
actual exposure of something of human value and is often measured as the product of probability and loss.
diaster epidemiology
the measurement of the adverse health effects of natural and human-generated disasters and the factors that contribute to those effects
How disasters affect the health status of a community
- Premature deaths, illnesses, and injuries
- Destroy the local healthcare infrastructure -> inability to respond to emergency, and disruption of routine health care
- Create environmental imbalances, increasing communicable disease and environmental air, soil, and water hazards
- Affect the psychological, emotional, and social well-being of the population
- Cause shortages of food -> severe nutritional deficiencies
- Cause large population movements -> burdens on other healthcare systems and communities
Life cycle of a disaster: 3 phases
Pre-impact
Impact
Postimpact
basic phases of disaster management
preparedness mitigation response recovery evaluation
preparedness
proactive planning
mitigation
measures taken to reduce the harmful effects of a disaster
response
implementation of the disaster plan
recover
focus on stabilizing and returning the community to normal
evaluation
conducted to determine what worked, what did not work, and what specific problems and challenges were identified.
Common problems issues and challenges
- Communication problems
- Operational issues r/t effective triage, transportation, and evacuation
- Accommodate the management, security of, and distribution of resources
- Advanced warning systems
- Enhance coordination of search and rescue efforts
- Effective triage of pts
- Establish plans for the distribution of patients to hospitals
- Patient identification and tracking
- Damage or destruction of healthcare infrastruction
- Management of volunteers, donations, and other large numbers of resources
- Encountering overall resistance to planning efforts
6 domains of preparedness
- Community resilience: preparing for and recovering from emergences
- Incident management: coordinating an effective response
- Information management: making sure people have info to take action
- Countermeasures and mitigation: getting meds and supplies where they are needed
- Surge management: expanding medical services to handle large events
- Bio surveillance: investigating and identifying health threats
core preparedness activities
- Prepare a theoretical foundation for disaster planning
- Disaster planning is only as effective as the assumptions upon which it is based
- Core preparedness activities must go beyond the routine
- Have a community needs assessment
- Identify leadership and command post
- Design a local response for the first 72 hours
- Identify and accommodate vulnerable populations
- Know about state and federal assistance
- Identify training and educational needs, resources, and PPE
- Plan for the early conduction of damage assessment
Pandemics: investigation and management of communicable disease 3 steps
- Recognition that a potential outbreak is occurring
- Investigation of the source, mode of transmission, and risk factors for infection
- Implementation of appropriate control measures
6 essential features of professional nursing
- Provision of a caring relationship that facilitates health and healing
- Attention to the range of human experiences and responses to health and illness within the physical and social environments
- Integration of the obj. data with knowledge gained from an appreciation of the pt. or groups subjective experience
- Application of scientific knowledge of the processes of dx and Tx through the use of judgment and critical thinking
- Advancement of professional nursing knowledge through scholarly inquiry
- Influence on social and public policy to promote social justice
