Natural and manmade disasters frequently result in significant healthcare impacts, including patient surges and hospital evacuations. These disasters create a need for robust healthcare emergency management (HEM) exercises, a priority reinforced by the Joint Commission’s accreditation standards, which require hospitals to regularly conduct full-scale emergency exercises. Nevertheless, many emergency management departments continue to struggle with personnel and budgetary constraints, as their value is often overlooked until disaster strikes. As such, HEM practice can often be singularly focused on accreditation-based exercises such as those required by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehab Facilities and the American College of Surgeons.
The demand placed on HEM continues to increase due to the combined effect of a growing patient population, expanding healthcare systems, increasingly frequent and severe natural disasters, and the ever-present threat of technologic and human-caused disasters. Hospitals and health systems need to be prepared, and full-scale exercises are the most comprehensive method for achieving this preparedness. By leveraging partnerships with clinical and information technology staff in their healthcare systems, and by utilizing emerging technologies such as generative artificial intelligence (AI), HEM practitioners can enhance their capacity to carry out these exercises. Learn more on domesticpreparedness.com.