Ambulatory Care Quarterly: Report gives ‘benchmark’ for ED disaster training
Ambulatory Care Quarterly
Report gives benchmark’ for ED disaster training
In light of the recent terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, DC, the critical question arises: Are you adequately trained for a disaster? It’s not a simple question to answer, but now you have a measuring stick to assess how well you are prepared.
A new report from the Dallas-based American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Emergency Preparedness gives you a "benchmark" to prepare for nuclear, biological, and chemical (NBC) incidents with specific training objectives.
Disaster training
The report recommended that training start in nursing school and provide an overview of nursing roles in a disaster, says Bettina Stopford, RN, chair of the national Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) work group for the Des Plaines, IL-based Emergency Nurses Association and chief nurse for the Denver-based U.S. Public Health Service’s Central U.S. National Medical Response Team for WMD.
The report gives you specific guidelines for what your disaster training should include, she says.
Stopford recommends the following to comply with the recommendations of the report:
- Have an active plan in place in advance to mitigate the long-term effects of a large-scale disaster.
- Ensure that ED staff education has a functional component.
- Give nurses hands-on training with appropriate personal protective equipment.
- Make sure participants experience the role changes or expanded roles required in a disaster.
- Include a role review, incident management system review, and a brief tabletop-type exercise for orientation.
- Provide nurses with a brief annual review, along with the two disaster drills required by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. "This can be tagged onto the infection control and safety training review which is required annually," Stopford suggests.
- Practice the following:
— safety/ED lockdown;
— staff recall lists;
— rapid triage such as Simple Triage and Rapid Treatment, developed by the Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach, CA, and the Newport Beach Fire Department for a multiple casualty incident;
— triage to other areas of the hospital;
— role identification;
— supplies;
— personal protective equipment;
— the incident management system such as Hospital Emergency Incident Command System, an emergency management system made up of positions on an organizational chart, developed by the San Mateo (CA) County Health Services Agency;
— communication, including broadcast, fax, and radios;
— decontamination;
— active surveillance systems;
— contact with resources;
— integration with the community for resources.
- Hold an annual tabletop drill for managers and charge staff. "You need to see what kind of thinking needs to take place to best manage a disaster," says Stopford. "This should be followed up by a hands-on drill with mock victims."
[For more on the report, contact:
- Bettina Stopford, RN, Denver Health Medical Center, 777 Dannock St., MC 8200, Denver, CO 80204. Telephone: (303) 436-3431. Fax: (303) 436-6828. E-mail: [email protected].]
Report’s Recommendations
- Develop a continuing education course covering the weapons of mass destruction (WMD) performance-level objectives for all emergency nurses.
- Use both self-study and instructor-led continuing education programs.
- Work with professional organizations to promote integration of the WMD content into established hospital training programs.
Source: American College of Emergency Physicians, Dallas, and Office of Emergency Preparedness. Developing Objectives, Content, and Competencies for the Training of EMTs, Emergency Physicians, and Emergency Nurses to Care for Casualties Resulting from NBC Incidents. Washington, DC.
Subscribe Now for Access
You have reached your article limit for the month. We hope you found our articles both enjoyable and insightful. For information on new subscriptions, product trials, alternative billing arrangements or group and site discounts please call 800-688-2421. We look forward to having you as a long-term member of the Relias Media community.