How to Prepare your Medical Practice
Every business should have a disaster plan—most importantly, medical offices. There are many steps that can help you assess your medical practice and provide protection during a disaster.
Select each section below to learn about key steps you can take to communicate with patients and staff before and during a disaster, organize and manage your medical office, and connect with local disaster response and preparedness resources.
- Communication Plans
Your office disaster plan should include systems to communicate with staff and families. It may save time if you develop draft communication templates that you can quickly modify and disseminate during a disaster.
Communicate with staff.
Topics to include in communication templates for staff:
- How your team will stay in touch about disaster-related developments. Which staff members provide direct care and need to be in the office when it is safe and feasible? Are others able to work remotely?
- To what extent can you close the office and continue providing services? Can your team switch to telemedicine, telehealth or telephone-only support if you are unable to conduct appointments in the office?
- As an employer, you can also encourage staff to make their own home disaster plans and know where to get information about staying safe through the disaster and safely returning to work.
Communicate with families.
Topics to include in communication templates for families:
- How they can access care during a disaster. Will you have limited hours? Is telemedicine, telehealth or telephone-only technology an option? Is there an emergency department or clinic they should use if you must close your office? Are there mobile medical services being deployed?
- Tips for staying safe. For example, if you live in an area prone to hurricanes and flooding, share information about local shelters and encourage families to follow the “turn around, don’t drown” rule when driving near flooded areas. In the case of a disease outbreak, you can summarize recommendations for health precautions and provide links to a local health authority website for detailed guidance.
- When your office plans to re-open or resume normal hours or services.
Texas Winter Freeze of 2021
Reminders of recent disasters can help motivate families to be better prepared for future events. In February 2021, a large portion of Texas sustained a combination of freezing temperatures, frozen precipitation and snow over the course of eight days, with unusually heavy snowfall on Valentine’s Day. Due to complications with the state’s energy grid, many people were without electricity and/or water, many of them for at least three days. At the outage’s peak, nearly 10 million Texans were without power (NCEI, 2021). In the end, the Texas Department of State Health Service (DSHS) determined 246 deaths occurred in Texas as a direct result of the severe winter storm (freezing, accidents) or an indirect result (carbon monoxide poisoning, fires, inability to access health supports) (DSHS, 2021).
While the storm is still fresh in memory, providers can use it to encourage families to be prepared, learn how to stay warm or seek shelter, and understand the risks posed by disasters.
- Practice Organization and Management
Store medical records and supplies safely. Organize the medical office so that records and supplies are stored in a way that reduces the risk of damage or loss. For example, if flooding is a possibility, store medical and office supplies off the floor to protect them. Make sure computers are backed up and secured, and paper records are securely locked away. Consider how medications are stored and how to keep them secure and stable during an emergency office closure, flood or loss of electricity. Determine what must be removed if you evacuate and what must remain on site.
Manage refrigerated medications and vaccines. It is crucial to maintain the vaccine cold chain, or temperature monitoring, to ensure the safety and efficacy of vaccines. The Texas Vaccines for Children (TVFC) program publishes a manual with specific protocols for storing and refrigerating vaccines, as well as managing any vaccines lost due to disaster, such as loss of power.
Refer to DSHS’s TVFC and Adult Safety Net Provider Manual available from the Appendix.
Enroll in the Texas Vaccines for Children Program and complete annual re-enrollment. The TVFC program is the Texas version of the federal Vaccines for Children program that guarantees that vaccines will be available at no cost to health-care providers, in order to immunize eligible children ages birth through 18 years. Be sure to notify TVFC about changes in who is designated as the signing physician, your facility location or other staffing changes that may relate to vaccine coordination. Refer to the TVFC Best Practices web page for details about required trainings and how to re-enroll annually, as required. Find a link in the Appendix.
Organize office and equipment documentation. Keep digital or printed copies of equipment warranties, model numbers, manufacturers, purchase receipts and suppliers/servicers in a safe place. This information may be necessary if equipment needs to be repaired, replaced or declared lost.
Maintain a supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) and other emergency materials.Keep a supply of PPE and emergency materials on hand and determine how you will obtain and distribute needed equipment during an emergency. Necessary PPE may include face coverings, standard procedure masks, N95 respirators, protective eye wear like goggles and face shields, gloves and gowns for various care scenarios. During disasters and public health crises, refer to your local public health department for specific guidance on using PPE to protect your staff and patients.
Consider how to reduce disruption or damage to your office. Protect your property by weatherproofing the facility, addressing maintenance and structural issues, and following fire safety recommendations such as cutting back foliage. You can also contact your local electric utility in advance to be listed for priority restoration of service.
Attend to infection control and air quality control. Annually train staff on standard precautions, infection control, seasonal and pandemic influenza, and the importance of immunizations. Have a plan and supplies on hand to disinfect the facility. Provide respiratory protection to your staff as part of standard PPE.
Set up an office disaster kit.
Your staff can help create a weather-resistant kit for disasters. If you must evacuate or close your office, this kit should also travel with you for the security of your practice, as well as to help people in the community during a crisis.
- Copies of medical license and credentials
- Essential business documents scanned and saved in cloud storage or on a flash drive
- Stethoscope
- Otoscope (battery-powered) and specula, with spare bulbs
- Ophthalmoscope (battery-powered) and spare bulbs
- Blood pressure monitor
- Tongue blades
- Thermometer
- Tape measure
- Calculator
- Reference handbook
- Prescription pad
- Pen/pencil
- Paper/notebook
- Gloves
- Masks
- Portable scale
- Alcohol wipes
- Bandages, gauze and pads
- Antibiotic ointment
- Topical steroid cream
- Tourniquets or Stop the Bleed kits
- Albuterol metered-dose inhaler or nebulizer solution
- Ibuprofen and acetaminophen
- Diphenhydramine ceftriaxone
- 1% lidocaine saline solution
- Oral or injectable steroids
- Syringes and needles
- Sharps container
- Toys for children
- Diapers, baby wipes, baby food and formula
See the Appendix for links to the AAP Pediatric Preparedness Resource Kit and Preparedness Checklist for Pediatric Practices.
- Disaster Response and Preparedness Resources
Your medical office can be a source of accurate information if you and your staff become familiar with official sources of public health and safety planning and information. To help you and your office best anticipate and plan for disasters, monitor weather reports and take notice of state and national emergency alerts and texts.
You can sign up to receive notices from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Resources for weather and emergency text alerts are provided in the Appendix.
In addition, you can follow social media or subscribe to notifications from local authorities, such as the local health department and city or county authorities.
Find out whether local health-care organizations participate in a Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP) health-care coalition (described below). Many hospitals and other medical facilities have received additional training from HPP, which allows them to more efficiently collaborate between public health entities and first responders.
Hospital Preparedness Programs (HPP)
HHS’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response oversees Health Care Readiness Programs, which include the Hospital Preparedness Program.
The HPP is the primary source of federal funding for health-care system preparedness and response. It collaborates with state and local health departments to prepare health-care delivery systems to save lives through development of health-care coalitions (HCCs).
HCCs bring together various health-care and response organizations in a geographic area, including acute care hospitals, emergency medical service providers, emergency management agencies and public health agencies, to prepare health-care delivery systems to respond to emergencies and disasters. The coalitions collaborate to ensure each member can respond to emergencies and other crises with appropriate resources, including medical equipment and supplies, real-time information, communication systems and educated and trained health-care personnel.
In Texas, 22 Regional Advisory Councils that cover the state work to develop, implement and monitor a regional emergency medical service trauma system plan. Each regional council works with HPPs to develop and implement health-care coalitions. In Texas in 2022, 93 percent of acute care hospitals, 84 percent of emergency medical services, 88 percent of public health agencies and 67 percent of emergency management agencies participate in health-care coalitions to prepare for disaster situations (HHS, 2022).
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