When the "routine" incident becomes not so routine.

For today's discussion, I'm going to pull a quote from an article published in Fire Rescue Magazine in March 2016.

Most of us in the fire service are used to handling a car fire, a house fire, maybe a fuel spill, or a car accident with two or three victims. This is what we do, what we practice, and the kinds of things that we have responded to and have some confidence that we can handle well. It becomes a completely different story when multiple incidents happen, and they can happen in communities of almost any size. For this reason, every fire officer or individual who could be placed in a situation where he needs to take control of an incident, or a portion of an incident, needs to understand the incident command system (ICS) and how to implement it at both simple and complicated incidents (Jakubowski, 2016).

Throughout the years that I worked in the fire service, I was always advised to avoid being casual about "routine" incidents.  I was trained to know what every position on the fire apparatus was expected to know.  Even early in my career, my officers would give me "what-if" scenarios to prepare me for the day when I might lead.

Why doesn't healthcare do the same?  Can we guarantee that our administration will be available within the facility?  Can our management and supervisors guarantee that they will be available to respond to the affected area of the hospital?

At emergency drills and exercises, excluding the Emergency Room staff, who is present?  Based on an informal poll that I took among local emergency managers, it was upper management of hospitals.  Very few staff members were present at these drills/tabletop exercises.

Because of their role, emergency room staff regularly train on disasters or surge events.  What if it is the Emergency Room that is needing the emergency response?  Without adequate training, can the rest of the hospital be in a position to respond timely and effectively?

Following the model within the fire service, what if everyone within the hospital was familiar with the hospital incident command system (HICS)?  What if everyone within the facility knew the appropriate steps to be taken to initiate a response, whether management and administration was present or not?  What if we drilled on these steps much like we do for a code blue, a missing child, or a fire drill?

It is time hospitals took a more progressive and forward leaning attitude towards non-routine events.

Jakubowski, G. (2016, March 1). Are you prepared to handle more than the "routine" incident? FireRescue Magazine, 11(3).  Retrieved from http://www.firerescuemagazine.com/articles/print/volume-11/issue-3/firefighting-operations/are-you-prepared-to-handle-more-than-the-routine-incident.html