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Case: Yale New Haven Center for Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Response: Contingency Planning
Synopsis
The Yale New Haven Center for Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Response was established by the Yale New Haven Health System (YNHHS) in 2002. The Center’s mission is to develop and deliver services that improve healthcare planning, preparedness, and response for emergency events and disasters. It is responsible for identifying the status of emergency preparedness within the three YNHHS member hospitals (Yale-New Haven Hospital, Bridgeport Hospital, and Greenwich Hospital); preparing YNHHS to respond effectively to emergency preparedness and disaster response issues; providing leadership to healthcare delivery organizations (e.g., acute care hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, community health centers, home health agencies, urgent care centers, emergency medical service providers, and community medical practices) and their workforce regarding emergency preparedness and disaster response issues; serving as a model for emergency preparedness and disaster response initiatives at the national and international levels; and advising statewide and national legislative and nongovernmental organizations on the development of standards and policies for emergency preparedness and disaster response in healthcare delivery organizations. These objectives are achieved through a complex of web of partnerships with healthcare delivery organizations, professional health associations, and agencies on the local, state, regional, national, and international levels. This case study focuses on the intricacies of contingency planning and disaster recovery planning
Questions
a. Why is an integrated planning approach necessary for building healthcare capacity and providing a coordinated response to emergencies and disasters?
b. What is a needs assessment? What role did this play in the center’s ability to provide disaster planning, education and training, clinical strategies, and logistical solutions to Connecticut’s healthcare delivery infrastructure
Expert Answer
a. Why is an integrated planning approach necessary for building healthcare capacity and providing a coordinated response to emergencies and disasters?
Integrated planning approach necessary for building healthcare capacity and providing a coordinated response to emergencies and disasters as that will ensure effective participation of all affected departments and will help identify possible situations during the crisis, impacts of all possible situations and plan a course of action for each possible situation.
This can drastically improve the organisation’s ability to respond.
Integrated planning will allow the organisation to efficiently manage all types of emergencies and distorters and execute an orderly transition from relief to recover the damages.
The mission of disaster response is to improve healthcare planning, preparedness and response for emergency situations and disasters.
b. What is a needs assessment? What role did this play in the center’s ability to provide disaster planning, education and training, clinical strategies, and logistical solutions to Connecticut’s healthcare delivery infrastructure
A needs assessment is useful in identifying gaps or shortfalls in a plan.
In this case, needs assessment played an important role to identify the gaps in preparedness of the plan.
These gaps were addressed by new programs and services developed as well as by the adaption of existing programs offered by individual organisations.
In disaster planning, the needs assessment helped in improving the coordinated approach for emergency preparedness.
Surveys helped in identifying the healthcare delivery workers’ education level in emergency preparedness.
