About Emergency Preparedness
It’s time to change the way California thinks about disaster response. The COVID-19 pandemic showed that hospitals can quickly mobilize to provide flexible approaches to patient care during a disaster. The state must draw upon these lessons to prepare differently so the next crisis will be less severe. Given California’s size and complexity, the health care disaster response system of the future must be nimble enough to respond to any catastrophe. View more information on hospital disaster preparedness.
Wildfire Evacuation Planning
2022 Disaster Conference – Best Practice Showcase
Shared by Sutter Maternity & Surgery Center, this tool details the background, purpose, methods, results, and conclusions stemming from the August 2020 wildfire in Santa Cruz County that placed the hospital at risk for evacuation. The resource offers an inside look into the considerations weighed by the emergency response team, details how risk factors were analyzed, and shows evacuation methods considered as the event unfolded.
Virtual/Hybrid Emergency Response Planning
2022 Disaster Conference – Best Practice Showcase
Shared by Stanford Health Care, this tool demonstrates how hospitals and health systems can deploy their Incident Management Team and Command Center virtually. The resource offers helpful information on weighing pros/cons, examines application scenarios, and explores the challenges and opportunities associated with virtual/hybrid emergency response.
Model Surge & Emergency Operations Coalition
2022 Disaster Conference – Best Practice Showcase
Shared by Sierra View Medical Center, this tool demonstrates the County of Tulare model of a Surge & Emergency Operations Coalition, showing how it can effectively serve as a framework to establish a coalitions at the local, regional, and/or state level to enhance communication, demonstrate a common vision, and foster collaborations towards a shared mission.
Advancement in Seismic Design of Hospitals & Health Care Facilities
2023 Disaster Conference – Best Practice Showcase
Is your hospital ready for the next Big One? This resource offers information for the health care industry on designing and retrofitting existing facilities using precise methodologies for seismic hazard analysis for building design. Learn how optimized earthquake engineering can result in a greater efficiency and economics in seismically active environments.
Managing and Expanding Energy & Excellence
2021 Virtual Disaster Conference
This session encourages attendees to examine elements of purpose, passion, relationships, and vision that contribute to well-being at work and in life. Well-being is paramount to enhancing resiliency and creating performance excellence during adversity.
Emergency Management Stressors & Their Impacts
2022 Disaster Conference – Best Practice Showcase
This new look at emergency management focuses on stressors and their impacts, and addresses how (and why) the culture of stoicism should change to improve performance, resilience, and increase success for healthcare workers. The tool details how applying neuroscience to crisis management and leadership can reduce stress and burnout, improve organizational resilience, and build long-term peak performance.
Wildfire Smoke and Hospital Air Quality
2022 Disaster Conference – Best Practice Showcase
Kaiser Permanente Northern California offers information and strategies for protecting hospital staff, patients, and visitors when air quality is poor due to wildfire smoke. This resource provides engineering and administrative controls, and recommends protective equipment usage during fires and disasters where air quality may impact the hospital.
Telehealth Preparedness: Lessons Learned from the Veterans Health Administration
2022 Disaster Conference – Best Practice Showcase
The Veterans Health Administration (VA) shares lessons learned about telehealth services in primary care and explores the impacts on patient outcomes in primary care. The VA examined the association between the use of telehealth services and hospitalizations and presents trends and conclusions gained from the study of these health care models.
Staffing and Workforce Safety during Disasters
2022 Disaster Conference – Best Practice Showcase
El Camino Health shares its methodologies for increasing workforce safety by transforming staffing models and implementing shared governance within hospital units during disaster events. The project aimed to share knowledge and highlight the need for further research on staffing models impacting professional governance on nursing practice and patient outcomes where little data existed. The project demonstrated the opportunity to assess the impact of the COVID-19 rotation standard work on workforce safety, nurse satisfaction, and clinical outcomes.
Increasing Knowledge and Perceptions of Disaster Preparedness: A Brief Educational Intervention
2022 Disaster Conference – Best Practice Showcase
The Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles shares their review of evacuation plans, and details the critical need for health care organizations to plan for addressing evacuation, educate hospital staff on response procedures, and practice protocols through drills and exercises. The process identifies gaps in processes and staff education and helps engage stakeholders to review the organization’s plan and pilot educational interventions.