Tuesday, May 17, 2011

emergency preparedness

Every facility needs to have an emergency plan because disaster does not schedule their events. We had a facility with a fire in which residents were evacuated. The facility staff were prompt in responding and the facility nurse developed a care plan to address resident needs related to being moved. Some of the issues she addressed included watching the residents for respiratory stress due to potential exposure to smoke, stress of moving from familiar surrounding to a different location, how to provide a calm safe environment and respond to potential behaviors. This professional nurse also included directives on how to deal with questions from family members and the media. Resident were found to be calm and dealing with the changes.

2 comments:

kresil said...

yeah, keep calm, don't panic
save people might be easy


regard
Kresil-Nurse Midwife Program

nbores said...

I agree with you that everyone should have a disaster plan and as health care professionals we should practice the plan and know what role we are responsible for. There are so many things to do during a disaster that having a plan will help to keep our patients safe. The professional nurse that provided information on how to deal with family members had a great idea. The family should be included in this plan and they should know what is happening with their loved ones in case of a disaster. The fact that the residents were dealing with this and remaining calm shows that there was a plan in place and it worked well with the workers and the patients/residents. Thinking about the needs of the patients/residents throughout the disaster probably helped the staff to better care for these patients and give them direction for their care after this disaster. This is a great example of how being prepared for an emergency can result in better outcomes for everyone.