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Abstract #162661

Michael J. Reilly, MPH, NREMT-P¹, David S. Markenson, MD¹, and Garrett Doering, MS². (1) Center for Disaster Medicine, New York Medical College, School of Public Health, SPH Bldg. 2nd Floor, Valhalla, NY 10595, 914-594-4919, michael.reilly@aya.yale.edu, (2) Regional Resource Center, Westchester Medical Center, Grasslands Road, Valhalla, NY 10595

Introduction: Hospital plans often vary when it comes to the functions that are included in emergency and incident management positions. There is no set standard which describes what roles within a hospital are essential to the ability to respond to and recover from a disaster or public health emergency.

Methods: 31 hospitals in the 7 county northern metropolitan New York City region were surveyed to determine which specific functional roles were essential to their hospital's emergency and disaster plan. Furthermore, hospitals were asked to estimate the percentage of their “essential” staff that were trained to perform the critical duties based on their hospital plans.

Results: Only 3 categories of hospital personnel were consistently reported to be “essential” to all hospitals emergency preparedness plans: ED Physicians, ED Support Staff, and ED Nurses. Some hospitals reported that staff members have received no training in their anticipated role based on the hospital emergency response plan. Allied health professionals and EMTs/Paramedics had the least amount of training on their role in the hospital preparedness/response plan 33.3% and 22.2% respectively.

Conclusion: Although their may be general consensus that staff in emergency departments may be considered essential during a disaster or public health emergency, training may not be provided to these staff members to perform their critical functional roles. Sustainable training programs need to be designed which involve all staff, to increase knowledge of their individual roles and responsibilities during a disaster.

Learning Objectives: Objectives

Participants will
• Discuss how hospital administrators perceive the value of certain functional roles during disasters and public health emergencies.
• Describe how personnel differ between “plan essential” and “functionally essential.”
• Identify reasons why functional roles identified as “essential” are not necessarily trained to their emergency-specific duties and/or responsibilities.

Keywords: Hospitals, Planning

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?


I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Medicine: Poster Session

The 135th APHA Annual Meeting & Exposition (November 3-7, 2007) of APHA