Develop geographic-specific plans. Create plans that reflect the local weather patterns and frequency of other adverse events endemic to that area. A Dallas hospital, for example, adapted their readiness plan to include protocols for mass causalities resulting from plane crashes after multiple incidents at a nearby airport. Just as facilities in Gulf Coast states need to prepare for hurricane season, northern states have to prepare for winter storms. In California, the specter of managing a damaging earthquake or wildfire is never far from a hospital leader’s mind.

Avoid stockpiling supplies. In certain circumstances, suppliers and distributors place critical products on allocation based on need in order to prevent unnecessary strain on the supply chain due to panic acquisition or purchasing beyond the need. Each facility should ensure it has enough supplies, but avoid stockpiling.



Triage patients appropriately and relocate patients, such as ventilator-dependent patients, infants in the NICU and other vulnerable patients, whose needs cannot be met given an impending disaster. Facilities should assess their particular capabilities and act accordingly.

Learn from past surprises. In October of 2014, the Ebola outbreak reached the United States. In particular, Dallas hospitals found themselves inadequately prepared to contain the highly infectious virus. Yet, the local hospitals quickly adapted, putting protocols in place for information management and proper sterilization, including best practices for gowning, gloving and preparing patient rooms. Comprehensive guidelines for donning and doffing personal protective equipment for infectious diseases and can be found here.

If there is one thing we’ve learned this past year, it is that emergencies can be hugely disruptive to hospital systems and that preparing for them is a constant and evolving process. At Vizient, we understand that major events will continue to pose a significant threat to the healthcare system in 2018, and we encourage hospital leadership to plan, prepare and practice to ensure patient safety and care continuity when an emergency strikes.

About the Author: As senior vice president of sourcing operations, Cathy Denning has responsibility for the company's capital, medical and surgical sourcing, distribution, contract process and technology, strategic programs, physician preference and supplier diversity operations. She uses her 32 years of progressive experience in the health care industry to provide strategic and operational leadership for many of the sourcing operations programs. Before joining Vizient, Denning was in clinical practice in the acute care arena as a staff nurse, unit manager and oncology clinical specialist. Her other experience includes clinical practice, market and program management and development, staff training, The Joint Commission and quality assurance program management, and corporate compliance auditing.

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