Question

Discuss the emergency prepardeness in LTC facilities: discuss the four parts to an emergency plan, all-hazards approach to planning; types of exercises; and risk mitigation in the facility.

Answer 1

Emergency preparedness in a long term care facility is all the preparatory measures to assure the long term care facility is safe during and after any form of man-made or natural disasters.The aim of the emergency preparedness is to reduce the morbidity and mortality caused by a disaster.

The four parts of emergency preparedness are

1.Risk assessment and planning:every organization should have a structured risk assessment plan in the form of a checklist to identify potential risk which can cause an impending disaster.risk assessment should identify hazards in the near location,check and identify for a probable equipment snags or power failures,loss of communication methods like in case of cyber hack .

2. Communication plan:in case of an emergency all organization should have a documented communication which should include the name of the company or individuals to be contacted in case of an emergency

3. Policy and procedures: Emergency preparedness should be part of an apex manual which should be updated anually .it should be in line with the local rules and state federal laws.

4. Rehearsal and training: emergency preparedness plan should be part of the induction and it should be refreshed to all staffs in the form of in-service training .A mock disaster drill should be conducted once a year to check whether laid down policy and procedures are enough of to be updated

Various types of exercises in emergency preparedness.

All exercises are aimed in familiarizing the staffs on emergency preparedness policy and to validate the prepared draft on emergency preparedness.

This can be achieved by conducting

Workshops,panel discussion,symposium,brain storming games or simulation.whuch will help the staffs to be accustomed to the policies and procedures.

Drills,full coordination checks:will help us to use how well the policy and protocols are in place .it will help us to identify coordination controls.