Manila Doctors Hospital Disaster Preparedness Overview and Checklist

January 18, 2006

Definition of Disaster:

Disaster is any event that overwhelms the person or a group of persons facing it. The overwhelming can be in terms of psychosocial impact, destruction of property, injuries to or diseases of human beings, and scarcity of resources. Any event that is of a magnitude what overwhelms the administration of the hospital is a disaster in the hospital.

Types of disaster of concern to Manila Doctors Hospital:

External disasters (outside the hospital)

Internal disasters (inside the hospital)

Sudden massive influx of patients

Cardiopulmonary arrests

Fires / explosions / earthquakes

Terrorism / bomb threats / hostage taking

Goal of disaster control:

Save as many victims and as much properties as possible.

Strategies in disaster preparedness:

1. Written structured disaster preparedness plan

2. At least one annual drill

Steps in Disaster Preparedness and Control:

Steps	Primary Details	Other Details
1. Declaration of disaster with establishment of Incident Command	Official declaration by Emergency Room Officer or Nurse Supervisor on Duty or any member of the Senior Management Team	Initial Incident Command by ERO or Nurse Supervisor on Duty or any member of the Senior Management Team; subsequent incident command to be assigned by Hospital Director or Chair, Hospital Disaster Preparedness Committee or Disaster Control Officer
2. Notification of concerned hospital authorities	Disaster Control Officer Chair, Hospital Disaster Preparedness Committee Hospital Director Nursing Directress Operations and Hospitality Director Medical Director Concerned division and department heads	Initial Incident Commander makes sure all concerned hospital authorities are notified.
3. Mobilization of staff and services	Disaster codes	Code RED – Fire Code BLUE – Adult CP Arrest Code BABY BLUE – Pediatric CP Arrest Code TANGO – Security Code WHITE – Doctors and nurses Code GREEN – End of disaster
	Disaster response teams	Fire Brigade Team Evacuation-Rescue Team First-aid Team Triage Team Communication Team Logistic Team
	Other medical and paramedical staff of the hospital (as needed)	Through the Medical Director / Nursing Directress / Operations and Hospitality Director / Hospital Director
	Support and ancillary services Pharmacy Laboratory Radiology Medical Records etc.	Through the Medical Director / Nursing Directress / Operations and Hospitality Director / Hospital Director
4. Organization of staff and services	By the Incident Command	Designated Incident Commander = commander-in-chief assisted by: Messengers – calls (internal and external) Runners
	Triage Officer	Assigned by Incident Commander / Emergency Room Officer / Disaster Control Officer
	Holding and Treatment Areas Team	Designated Area supervisors Treatment teams
	Transport of victims	Transport teams
	Traffic Control	Security Service
	Patients’ Log	Information Service Staff
	Relatives’ Information Area	Information Service Staff
	Press Conference	Hospital Director / Disaster Control Officer / Public Relations Officer
5. Control of disaster	Triage Using color tagging and designation of holding and treatment areas	Color Tagging – use permanent marker pens or ribbons BLACK – for non-salvageable patients GREEN – for primary care patients or classified as priority three YELLOW – for acute care patients or classified as priority two RED – for critical care patients or classified as priority one
	Treatment	Wards, OR, DR, ICU, and other areas in the hospital
	Referrals	PGH, Medical Center Manila, San Juan De Dios Hospital, Adventist Hospital, Ospital ng Maynila, Pasay City General Hospital
	Patients’ Log	Name, age, sex, diagnosis, color tag, whereabouts
	Traffic Control	Control of crowd, relatives, press people, and even hospital staff
	Relatives’ Information area	Outside ER – or other area designated by Incident Command
	Press Conference	Outside ER – or other area designated by Incident Command
6. Decongestion and reconstruction	By Incident Command	Assisted by all concerned hospital personnel
7. Post-disaster report and evaluation	Disaster Control Officer / Hospital Disaster Preparedness Committee	Continual improvement of hospital disaster preparedness program

See https://maniladoctors.tripod.com/dpp/disaster.htm for details.