Emergency preparedness: what every health care worker needs to know

Abstract

Canada is moving forward quickly with plans to ensure that it is prepared to deal with emergencies. The National Framework for Health Emergency Management, released Nov. 26, 2004, recommends that a National Health Incident Management System (IMS) be developed. However, although most communities have successfully implemented IMS in the emergency services sector, many are still struggling with the integration of IMS into their health care systems. It is essential that all health care workers, regardless of profession or position, understand at least the basic concepts of emergency preparedness because of the wide variety of roles they may be asked to fulfill in an emergency situation. This article will review the basic concepts in emergency preparedness and management with a specific focus on IMS in health care. RÉSUMÉLe Canada va de l'avant rapidement en élaborant des plans pour assurer qu'il est prêt à faire face aux urgences. Le Cadre national de gestion des situations d'urgence en santé dévoilé le 26 novembre 2004 recommande que l'on établisse un Système national de gestion des incidents en santé (SGI). Même si la plupart des localités ont réussi à mettre sur pied un SGI dans le secteur des services d'urgence, l'intégration du SGI dans leur système de santé pose encore des difficultés à beaucoup d'entre elles. Il est essentiel que tous les travailleurs de la santé, sans égard à leur profession ou à leur poste, comprennent au moins les concepts fondamentaux de la préparation aux interventions en cas d'urgence à cause de la grande variété des rôles qu'on peut leur demander de jouer en situation d'urgence. Dans cet article, on passera en revue les concepts fondamentaux de la préparation et de la prise en charge en cas d'urgence axées spécifiquement sur les SGI en soins de santé. EDUCATION • ÉDUCATION

Recommendations for intensive care unit and hospital preparations for an influenza epidemic or mass disaster: summary report of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine’s Task Force for intensive care unit triage during an influenza epidemic or mass disaster

“…Each region should establish an Incident Management System (IMS) with Emergency Executive Control Groups at facility, local, regional/state or national levels to exercise authority and direction over resources. Each IMS includes five functional areas-command, operations, planning, logistics and finance/administration [16] (Fig. 2).…”

A pandemic influenza modeling and visualization tool

“…This software provides a range of estimates of impact in terms of deaths, hospitalizations, and outpatients visits. FluSurge is a spreadsheet-based model which provides hospital administrators and public health officials estimates of the surge in demand for hospital-based services during the next influenza pandemic [12]. While these simulation tools provide excellent statistical support to planners, they are fairly restrictive in their scope, and do not provide any spatiotemporal support.…”

“…While desktop pandemic influenza modeling tools do exist (e.g., FluAid [1], FluSurge [12]), these tools are often restrictive in their scope and provide little to no spatiotemporal support to allow users to observe conditions evolving over time and space. To address this gap, visual analytics has emerged as a relatively new field formed at Contents lists available at ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jvlc the intersection of analytical reasoning and interactive visual interfaces [38].…”

Chapter 7. Critical care triage

“…It includes a standard organizational structure with five functional areas: command, operations, planning, logistics and finance/administration [16]. The IMS structure contains Emergency Executive Control Groups at the facility, local, regional/state or national levels (Fig.…”