Welcome to Dupont Hospital

INTRODUCTION

Overview
The Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) provides an organized process to initiate, manage, and recover from a variety of emergencies, both external and internal, which could confront the Dupont Hospital and surrounding community. Dupont Hospital leaders, including leaders of the medical staff, participate in the development of the Emergency Operations Plan.

The EOP identifies the hospital's capabilities and establishes response procedures for when the local community cannot support Dupont Hospital's efforts to provide communications, resources and assets, security and safety, staff, utilities, or guest (patient) care for at least 96 hours.

The EOP describes a comprehensive “all hazards” command structure for coordinating the six critical areas: communications, resources and assets, safety and security, staffing, utilities, and clinical activities.  The overall response procedures include single emergencies that can temporarily affect demand for services, along with multiple emergencies that can occur concurrently or sequentially that can adversely impact guest safety and the ability to provide care, treatment, and services for an extended length of time.

The Dupont Hospital has emergency response plans to establish the necessary policies and procedures to achieve preparedness, response to and recovery from an incident.  These plans and procedures are exercised and reviewed to determine and measure functional capability.  This is also in compliance with the National Incident Management System (NIMS) components (NIMS Element 7).

Dupont Hospital's EOP describes the recovery strategies and actions designed to help restore the systems that are critical to providing care, treatment and services after an emergency.

The EOP describes the processes for initiating/terminating Dupont Hospital response and recovery phases of an emergency, including under what circumstances these phases are activated.

The EOP identifies the individual(s) who has the authority to activate the response and recovery phases of the emergency response.

The EOP identifies alternative sites for care, treatment and services that meet the needs of its guests during emergencies.

When Dupont Hospital experiences an actual emergency, it implements its response procedures related to care, treatment and services for its guests.

Members of the Emergency Management Committee shall review and revise the EOP after each emergency management exercise as required by EM.03.01.03, EP 16.  Documentation of this review shall be noted by the revision date in the footer on the last page of the EOP.

Modifications made to the EOP are documented in the EM/EC minutes.  Documentation in the minutes shall indicate what information in the EOP what was modified, section(s) and page number(s).

Responsibilities
During an emergency, the Hospital Incident Command System (HICS) will be in activated.  The staff have been trained in NIMS and identified through the HICS system.

The EC Committee / Emergency Management Committee
Vital to successful planning for any disaster is the identification and tasking of a select group of multidisciplinary hospital representatives to become members of the hospital's Emergency Management Committee, a sub-committee of the EC Committee.  Involving local agencies, such as police, fire/emergency medical services, emergency management, and public health in committee deliberations helps clarify roles and responsibilities and encourages personal networking.  This familiarization helps promote priority setting, information-sharing, and joint decision-making during a real incident.  The committee meets regularly and consists of clinical and non-clinical representatives from key departments and functioning units of the facility.

The chairperson sets each meeting's agenda and facilitates the committee's work to achieve an annually established set of objectives.  Task groups are appointed to accomplish identified projects or to plan training and exercises as needed.  Minutes of each meeting are published and disseminated as necessary.

Definitions

1.Internal Emergency

An Internal Emergency involves an incident within the hospital that disrupts normal hospital operations.  Incidents include bomb threats, utility failures, hostage situations, and infant/pediatric abductions.

2.External Emergency

An External Emergency involves an incident beyond the immediate boundaries of the hospital.  Such an incident can result in a sudden arrival of a large number of casualties, including contaminated or contagious victims, which involve the Emergency Department.  Other external emergencies include snowstorms, utility outages, and tornadoes that may not impact the hospital directly, but could require a status alert for the facility.

3.Mass Causality Emergency

A Mass Causality Emergency involves a large influx of victims from an internal or external event requiring treatment, such as the result of a fire, explosion, train wreck, or bioterrorism event.  The victims may arrive at the Emergency Department via ambulance or other emergency service vehicle.

Any series of events that creates an overload situation in the Emergency Department may necessitate the use of the emergency procedures described in the Mass Casualty Plan.  The mass casualty emergency may be combined with other response plans used to protect the facility, such as in the event of an approaching tornado or snowstorm.

US Patent Numbers 7,720,998 B2, 7,836,207