Planning for health care surges during disasters is crucial for hospitals to ensure they can effectively respond to sudden increases in patient volume. Disasters can overwhelm medical facilities–having surge plans in place allow hospitals to optimize resource allocation, manage staff and equipment efficiently, and maintain continuity of care for both surge and non-surge patients.
“Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures…” – Benet Wilson
COVID-19 is challenging America’s health care providers in ways we never imagined. To support them in making difficult decisions during times of scarce medical supplies, California’s health care leadership has been developing guidance that will help frontline health care workers make some of the hardest decisions of their lives.
California Department of Public Health developed a tool for hospitals on general emergency response planning and related integration activities.
Hospitals facing a sudden rise in emergency department patients may find it necessary to establish a surge tent for triage purposes.
2024 Disaster Conference
This presentation delves into the critical issue of hospital surge and explores the various factors contributing increased patient volume, resource scarcity, and workforce shortages. Also discussed are the potential impacts of hospital surge on patient care quality, health care worker morale, and overall hospital operations.
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What’s happening: The Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI) and the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) have released a new Design Guide for Planning and Preparing for Disasters to assist hospitals in planning, preparing, and responding to disasters.
What else to know: The 102-page document includes coordinating references and illustrations supporting hospitals’ obligation to save lives and prevent injury or property damage in their emergency response.
2022 Disaster Conference
The National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) Pilot Program identifies opportunities to enhance partnerships between military and civilian health care systems to improve military-civilian interoperability and medical surge capabilities and capacity to care for combat casualties repatriated to the United States. This session provides an overview of the pilot program and activities completed to date, highlights medical surge readiness, and identifies opportunities for improvement in the Sacramento region based on stakeholder feedback.
This post has been archived and contains information that may be out of date.
The national supply chain strategy, FEMA reimbursement, crisis care guidelines, and managing hospital surges during a health care pandemic — register for the CHA Disaster Planning Virtual Conference, Sept. 15-16 from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., to hear about these topics and get backstage access to speakers.
Shared by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), this tool addresses the special medical needs of children, and emphasizes how health care facilities must be prepared for both pediatric and adult victims of bio-terrorism attacks, including those resulting from dispersal of airborne or food borne agents.
This session assists hospitals in evaluating their current response concepts, plans, and capabilities related to a medical surge of patients from an emerging infectious disease outbreak in the local community among community health care partners.