ACPMA

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Hurricane

A Cyclone or a typhoon or other tropical storms could occur. Hospitals and healthcare professionals should at all times consider a hurricane to be a disaster that requires emergency attention and prepare for them majorly because they lead to the destruction of homes, industrial outlets, and social supplies such as water, electricity, and food (Rosdahl & Kowalski, 2008).

A hurricane is another disaster that needs thorough preparedness. For any hospitals to run effectively without worries of the severity of the hurricane, it is important that the following issues be put in place: Back-up generators are required to prevent black out condition. Hospital structures should be hardened and category five windows hurricane resistance put in place. Fuel tanks for the back-up generators should be available.

In the event of a hurricane, strong winds blow. They tend to destroy power lines causing a total blackout, which leads to people living in particular area being cut off from the outside world, as they cannot watch the news or receive any supplies.

There could also be loss of lives as a hurricane destroys buildings, trapping those inside and making it hard for them to survive without the essentials of humans.

With this respect, considering a hurricane to be a natural disaster that requires emergent attention is crucial for healthcare professionals as it can help save lives of the affected by providing them with the necessary medical attention capable of sustaining their lives (Landesman, 2005). Hurricanes can trap patients and medical professionals in the facility without the ability of getting out, and that is if they are alive.

Hurricanes cause havoc and panic over many people and this may trigger health complications within people who suffer from coronary and other heart diseases. For such people to survive, they require emergency medical attention, which only medically trained personnel, can provide (Ciottone, 2006).

This means that hospitals and healthcare professionals should always treat hurricane as an emergency case so that they can resolve to provide either medical attention to people brought to them with such complications or those they choose to rescue (Clements, 2009).

Further, healthcare providers should always consider hurricane as an emergency issue since it requires people to evacuate their places of residence. In an event of evacuation, healthcare professionals can offer many medical related services to those evacuating considering the situation, as an emergency. Hurricanes trigger a number of issues such as diseases and infections as well as injuries since the heavy winds tend to lead to falling trees and buildings (Wolfson, Hendey, & Harwood-Nuss, 2010).

Carbon Monoxide poisoning

Chemical analysis shows that carbon monoxide is simply a gas that is colorless and odorless but very poisonous when it reaches its maximum and can lead to a sudden death due to the body’s lack of oxygen.
Overly, experts in gaseous response propose that carbon monoxide which emanates from motor vehicles, gas powered generators, fire, power washers, boats, charcoal grill, and other gas powered equipment can cause death when in sufficient supply within the ambient air (Ciottone, 2006).
Research findings suggest that the most at risk populations consist of the elderly, babies, infants, and people who suffer from chronic respiratory illnesses, anemia, and/or heart diseases (Landesman, 2005). In an event of carbon monoxide poisoning, hospital professionals should equip themselves with oxygen gas and resolve to consider carrying out hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO).
Educational scores in carbon monoxide positioning and related studies suggest that oxygen gas is a substantial remedy against carbon monoxide poisoning mainly because it relieves the patient of hypoxemia as it helps supply the heart with adequate oxygen capable of pumping blood to the other parts of the body (Veenema, 2007)
Aside from oxygen, healthcare professionals should also exhibit emergency preparedness in an event when a patient is brought in with Carbon Monoxide level above or between 25 and 30 percent.
In such circumstances, a patient may lose his or her life to cardiac involvement, neurological impairment, and/or prolonged unconsciousness (Hogan & Burstein, 2007). Generally, when healthcare professionals carry out a hyperbaric oxygen therapy and diagnose a patient with severe acidosis, cardiac disease, or transient unconsciousness, they should always consider the matter as an emergency case as the patient may die from these signs (Clements, 2009).

Just as clinicians suggest, harmful gases such as carbon monoxide pose significant challenges to people’s livelihoods and should always be treated with much haste as they cannot only impair the health of
the victim, but also lead to the consequent death of the affected person (Reilly & Markenson, 2011). Therefore, considering carbon monoxide poisoning as an emergency cannot be over-emphasized. The management team should ensure that there is proper installation of the carbon monoxide alarms, which can alert the concern to responsible individuals audibly. The hospitals should have a professional checker of all burning appliances. It is not wise to be using oven or range to assist in heating the hospitals. Charcoal burning in hospital should be out of bounds. Another caution is that cars should not be left running since; this will not supply required air in the milieu. Hospitals should develop extra decontamination rooms since it is not likely that pre-hospital personnel will manage to control all the contamination issues, the above will prevent hypothermia.
For seriously affected patients, application of chest radiography is recommendable particularly those showing signs of cardiopulmonary failure and lack of consciousness as they may require emergency services more than others may.

Earthquake

It is vital to raise concern over earthquake occurrence in the hospital. Earthquake is natural and often, hard to identify the direction to which it is originating from without some machinery assistance. Therefore, it is advisable for the hospital management to be well equipped with several kits that can last over seventy-two hours after the occurrence of the real incidence. Some of the kits are the ponchos, radios for communication and networking, food rations and flashlights just to sample but a few. Again, it is important for the hospital management to acknowledge the vitality of the emergency systems that will aid in notifications. Further, it will be awesome if the hospital is safe-guarded with earthquake safety measures. Frames and foundations of the building should be reinforced to resist earthquake.

Analysts advise that whenever there is an earthquake, people should always drop, cover, and hold on. In real terms, this means that one should first look for a place to drop and cover him or herself when the earth starts trembling. This in effect reduces the chances of any person falling casualty of such natural disasters. However, noting that the occurrence of such natural disasters requires that the inception of certain measures is substantial (Veenema, 2007). This means that if a certain area requires helping people survive an earthquake and thereafter reduce its health impacts, they must first of all prepare, come up with a plan, and practice. Whenever earthquakes occur, loss of lives and properties accompanied by panic is rampant. In addition, hospitals and other healthcare facilities resolve to help reduce the impacts that result from such natural disasters (Rout & Rout, 2002). Overly, earthquakes and other natural disasters tend to send a series of panic and havoc among the proclaimed victims. As such, analysts have come to consider these attacks as some of the major contributors of losses suffered during the event of an earthquake.

Far in advance, surveys show that whenever weather professionals forecast any possibility of a threatening earthquake, medical professionals and hospital staff wander up and down in search of ways of combating the repercussions.

Prospects show that when an earthquake is about to occur, medical professionals and hospital staff gather emergency supplies (Veenema, 2007). This means that in order to be in a position to combat the

impacts of such natural disaster, the concerned professionals must get down in search of the necessary emergency supplies that can help either reduce or stop the effects of an earthquake. After that, hospital professionals identify and work tirelessly with the aim of reducing the risks within the places affected. Identifying the possible areas of destruction is crucial as it helps reduce the amount of lives or properties that could perish in the face of an earthquake (Rout & Rout, 2002). What follows these steps is the aspect of practicing the measures to take during and at the end of an earthquake. Medical professionals ascertain that practicing what to do at the time of an earthquake and after can help people remain healthy and safe (Clements, 2009). One can never over emphasize the importance of earthquake drills. Practice! Practice!! Practice!!!

Fire

What starts as a simple spark can result to an uncontrollable fire in less than thirty seconds. Prospects indicate that fire spreads very easily and requires just a few seconds to become what fire extinguishers and related experts otherwise term as risky and uncontrollable.

Nevertheless, emergency preparedness for fire with regard to hospital professionals is always significant (Reilly & Markenson, 2011).

It comes to such a situation when hospitals’ professionals seek to bring together the necessary equipment that can help reduce the consequences of a fire outbreak.

Under these circumstances, the level of readiness is very important as it helps determine the extent at which the hospital professionals will react to a fire outbreak. Since fire can shake a whole hospital, it is always vital for doctors and other assisting personnel to equip themselves with the general elements of managing an emergency (Hogan & Burstein, 2007). In an event of fire, hospital professionals prepare themselves in view of combating this epidemic by setting up an incident command system, which facilitates the integration of the community emergency planning commonly forwarded by the available groups. Hospital professionals also equip themselves with decontamination materials in the wake of a fire outbreak (Rosdahl & Kowalski, 2008).

Decontamination is a part of the emergency preparedness procedures that are employed at any given time when fire incidents are on the rise. It is important to indicate that even though medical professionals should always seek to avail preparedness, materials for an emergency in position in case of a fire outbreak, turning for other measures is even more substantial (Reilly & Markenson, 2011).

Specialists in the fire department maintain that evacuation is indeed a congruent strategy that hospital professionals should always consider in an event of fire as it ensures safety and hospital expenditures in the long run.

Given that these emergency preparedness measures may help reduce the impacts of a fire outbreak, turning around for disaster recovery procedures is preliminary (Clements, 2009).

It helps restore those affected by the fire tragedy to their previous status but this happens in places where such a move is possible.

 

Terrorism

Documented evidence states that disasters may be natural while others are man-made. Terrorism is an example of artificial disaster that may cause people loss of their lives and in other cases, loss, or destruction of their properties (Ciottone, 2006). In whichever case, terrorism does not result into anything productive but rather diminishes any feeling of freedom and security within and outside the said territory.

Take a look at the September 9/11 terrorist attacks; it is notable that both the American citizens and the outside world felt threatened security wise (Veenema, 2007).

As a result, the government, with the support of other concerned organizations resolved to form such groups like the Local Emergency Planning Committees, which supports hospital professionals in combating terrorism activities.

It is therefore deducible that one way in which hospital professionals prepare for terrorist emergencies is via forming negotiation and support committees that help facilitate the delivery of services to the affected individuals (Hogan & Burstein, 2007).

There may be an incident where someone comes in to attack the hospital with a weapon. Here, it is advisable that both patients and hospital officials should make a highway where some individuals can escape.

In addition, the alarm system should be in place and in good condition, which will alert the security officers on the attack immediately.

At times, terrorist activities may include holding innocent citizens hostage, shooting and wounding individuals, and/or releasing hazardous gases into an enclosed building.  Under these circumstances, the lives of many people are always at stake, a situation that calls for emergency preparedness in not only hospitals but also in security agencies (Rosdahl & Kowalski, 2008). Of late, terrorist and other related criminal activities have skyrocketed and the available means of combating their consequences are being diversified. Hospital professionals equip themselves with emergency handling facilities such as masks and gloves if they are up against hazardous gases.

 

The increased rate of potential attacks by the terrorist directs the consequence and unique burden on Medical personnel. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the hospital management to prepare in advance for the fight against such act.

Thus, the hospital officials have the mandate to implement policies that will protect health care personnel during the time when they will be attending to the victims. Therefore, it is pertinent to have ambulance in standby to evacuate some patients to other hospitals, order extra medical supplies and make arrangements for security personnel.

The terrorists may shoot and injure their victims making it hard for the hospital professionals to just sit and wait for the final decision.