Studyspark Study Document

Disaster Preparedness at a Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center Essay

Pages:5 (1408 words)

Sources:5

Subject:Government

Topic:Veterans Affairs

Document Type:Essay

Document:#41586923


Today, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) operates that nation’s largest health care network, including 170 major medical centers that provide health care services of some type to more than nine million veteran patients each year (VA fast facts, 2019). Given that Iran recently classified all U.S. military personnel as terrorists and the high-profile nature of the VA in many major American cities, disaster preparedness has assumed new importance and relevance for the disaster preparedness administrators at these medical centers. The purpose of this paper is to provide the results of an interview with an emergency preparedness administrator at a Midwestern VA medical center that operates in the state’s capital city. Finally, a summary of the interview results is followed by a recapitulation of the research in the conclusion.

Disaster preparedness interview

The disaster preparedness administrator at the VA medical center in question is also the director of quality assurance (QA) who is a registered nurse with her master’s degree in public health. The quality assurance service oversees the medical center’s risk management function and the QA director is assisted by a full-time risk management program specialist. The results of the two main questions that were asked during this interview are provided below.

1) Question: “What do you consider to be the top three disasters for which you prepare?”

Responses:

a) Inclement weather and earthquakes: We live and work in “Tornado Alley” and we are routinely hit with major wind storms, power outages and thunder storms besides the ongoing threat of actual tornadoes. In fact, I was on the sixth floor a couple of years ago and we were able to see a tornado touch down just a few miles away. Our weather is also harsh in the winter, and ice storms and huge snow drifts are common. We’re also experiencing frequent earthquakes that are blamed on fracking. All of these events can disrupt patient care and surgical procedures so we try to train for these types of events constantly.

b) Fires: Current VA policy prohibits smoking on VA grounds so our patients and their families usually try to stay as close to our premises as possible while they smoke. Last year, there was a fire in our indoor parking garage that was attributed to cigarette smoking and the potential for more fires is always present. In addition, we handle lots of flammable materials here, including oxygen tanks, and an uncontrolled fire would be devastating. Fortunately, because we are located in the city’s health science center district, there is a fire station almost next door, but there is no room…

Some parts of this document are missing

Click here to view full document

…made by Veenema and Griffin (2014) who note that nurses typically account for the largest group of staff in a tertiary health care facility and emphasize that, “The effectiveness of the healthcare system's response to a public health emergency or disaster is largely dependent on the surge capacity of the nurse workforce” (p. 188).

Finally, the interviewee made the point that disaster planning is an ongoing process that requires diligence in determining what changes have taken place in the medical center that require corresponding changes in disaster preparedness planning. This point is also consistent with the guidance provided by Blake and Wilson (2019) who report that, “Disasters have become a real threat to health care. They can strike at any time and preparedness is vital so healthcare facilities can continue to provide medical services to the community” (p. 24).

Conclusion

Hospitals are already dangerous places that require constant risk management analyses in order to provide the highest quality of health care possible. The research was consistent in showing, though, that hospitals are also highly vulnerable to natural and manmade disasters of all types depending most especially on the geographic location. The results of the interview with a disaster preparedness administrator at a VA medical center reinforced these points as well as highlighting the need for ongoing diligence…


Sample Source(s) Used

References

Blake, N. & Wilson, E. (2019, September/October). Disaster preparedness: Mitigation, response, and recovery to ensure staffing excellence in Los Angeles County. Nursing Economics, 37(5), 231-233.

Labrague, L. J. & Yboa, B. C. (2016, January). Disaster preparedness in Philippine nurses. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 48(1), 98-102.

Natural disasters and severe weather. (2020). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved from https://emergency.cdc.gov/planning/index.asp.

VA fast facts. (2019). U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Retrieved from https://www.va. gov/health/aboutvha.asp.

Veenema, T. G. & Griffin, A. (2016, March). Nurses as leaders in disaster preparedness and response - A call to action. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 48(2), 187-192.

Cite this Document

Join thousands of other students and "spark your studies."

Sign Up for FREE
Related Documents

Studyspark Study Document

Analzying Disaster and Trauma

Pages: 9 (2968 words) Sources: 9 Subject: Psychology Document: #77350510

Disaster and Trauma Nature of the disaster and include any historical and relevant information. Towards the end of August 2005, Hurricane Katrina, an overwhelming category 4 hurricane hit the Mexican Gulf as well a certain Southern regions of the United States, resulting into some of the greatest damages in the history of that nation approximated at around one hundred billion dollars. The well-known New Orleans city together with its surrounding regions were

Studyspark Study Document

Government Sponsored Health Center and Emergencies

Pages: 10 (3797 words) Sources: 14 Subject: Healthcare Document: #34571706

Governmental healthcare centers concentrate on providing primary care to individuals and to control and manage the spread of infectious diseases and to manage natural disasters (Christian et al., 2008). However, in the public domain, health care differs from one country to another. This can be specifically applied in developed nations, where social, economic and political factors are most likely to influence public health policies and centers and their accessibility and

Studyspark Study Document

Recruitment and Hiring Working for

Pages: 10 (3084 words) Sources: 3 Subject: Careers Document: #87941194

" Candidates have to undergo personal interviews, medical examinations, "counterintelligence-scope polygraph examination," urinalysis test to screen for possible illegal drug use, and other procedures that the agency finds necessary to meet suitability, security and other educational, technical and work qualifications. (Carland; Faber, 2008); (Richfield, 2007) Amongst all civilian federal agencies, one of the most recent ones is the Department of Homeland Security -- DHS which deals with Homeland Defense. This agency

Studyspark Study Document

Analyzing Funding for Usace

Pages: 15 (4888 words) Sources: 15 Subject: Literature Document: #52111523

USACE program funding, compliant with Federal Continuity Directive 1. It will also address processes required for continuing the business continuity plan for the Nation's Survivability and Critical Infrastructure. The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) identifies itself with the following mission: to offer critical services in the public engineering area, during times of war and peace, for strengthening America's security, mitigating disaster risks, and energizing the nation's economy (U.S.

Studyspark Study Document

Air Traffic

Pages: 102 (28110 words) Sources: 88 Subject: Medical - Diseases Document: #54322150

Air traffic has continued to increase and it now constitutes a considerable proportion of the travelling public. The amount of long-hour flights has increased significantly. Based on the International Civil Aviation authority, air traffic can be anticipated to double amid till 2020. Airline travel, especially over longer distances, makes air travelers vulnerable to numerous facets that will impact their health and well-being. Particularly, the speed with which influenza spreads and

Join thousands of other students and

"spark your studies".