Disaster preparedness—resources are there,
but planning, staff training are keys to success
By Carina Stanton, MA
News Editor/Writer
Read the full story in your October issue of AORN Connections.
 Six years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Donna Pritchard, RN, BSN, MA, CNOR, CNA, BC, still recalls vividly the unease and uncertainty she and her perioperative team members felt when two jetliners crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center. Pritchard currently is director of perioperative services at Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center, Brooklyn, N.Y. At that time, however, Pritchard served as Director of Nursing-perioperative services at New York Downtown Hospital, just four blocks from the World Trade Center site in lower Manhattan. She arrived at work that morning just as the attacks were occurring. "I walked into the hospital covered in dust, and my eyes were burning. Patients were streaming in, and no one knew what was happening," she recalls. "Was our building safe? We lost power and went on the emergency generator. Steam and phone service went down. We didn't know what was going to happen next, and our critical thinking skills were put to the test." Jane Alcock, RN, BSN, CNOR, knows exactly what Pritchard meant when she spoke of unease and uncertainty amid an ongoing disaster. As RN manager-perioperative services, Alcock was forced to deal with flooding, no electricity and then spreading mold and mildew in the sweltering heat and humidity after Hurricane Rita struck near her facility at Louisiana State University's Walter O. Moss Regional Medical Center in Lake Charles, La., in 2005. "Staff were dispersed everywhere, and places like sterile processing were hit hard," she recalls. "We had to get rid of most of the inventory and find table-top sterilizers to get things up and running," she says. "But, we eventually got staff back a little bit at a time, and now we have better emergency plans in place and have regular in-services on disaster preparedness." Planning for the unexpected Such catastrophic disasters as Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the 9/11 terrorist attacks have demonstrated the value and the need for healthcare workers to be actively involved in improving communication networks, education and planning for disaster preparedness. And AORN is working closely with federal, state and local emergency planners to ensure that perioperative nurses have a seat at the planning table with other healthcare responders and emergency planners. "Periop nurses need to be involved in disaster planning because we will all be affected by disasters, and being prepared is an important first step," says Joan Blanchard, RN, BSN, MSS, CNOR, CIC, an AORN perioperative nurse specialist who participates in regional emergency planning for the Denver metropolitan area. Blanchard worked in the Denver area as a perioperative nurse and infection-control professional in hospital and ambulatory settings before joining AORN's Center for Perioperative Nursing staff in 2002. For the last 14 years she has also served as a representative for the federal Metropolitan Medical Response System (MMRS), a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant program that coordinates emergency plans, training and disaster-response mechanisms in 124 U.S. cities, including Denver. "Every state has disaster planning, but Colorado is an excellent model for emergency preparedness because federal, state and local emergency planners and first responders are working together to improve communication and disaster management. This is the key to being prepared for disaster," Blanchard observes. "Hospitals are often at the core of emergency planning because that is where patients go, whether they are brought to the hospital or go there directly. This means that all hospital staff must understand what may be needed or asked of you in a disaster, because you may be working in triage, mental health or even the morgue," Blanchard adds. She believes perioperative nurses need to participate in ongoing disaster management training because they don't normally float to emergency or critical care areas, and "during an emergency situation, you have to be prepared for anything." Earlier this year Pritchard, Blanchard and the AORN Emergency Management Task Force worked to update AORN's Perioperative Emergency Management Resource Manual, which spells out what perioperative nurses need to do to prepare for different types of disasters, ranging from floods to bioterrorism attacks. "During a disaster, power may be lost, water may damage supplies and patients may be coming into the hospital who have been exposed to gases or other harmful agents," Blanchard notes. "As you practice fire drills as part of fire safety this October, think about emergency preparedness, think about how well you might be able to work, monitor, triage or prepare patients for transport," she advises. "As first responders, we have a responsibility to our patients, and being prepared for an emergency is part of providing safe patient care. Additional Resources Perioperative Emergency Management Resource Manual Metropolitan Medical Response System National Incident Management System Improving health system preparedness |