Disaster Simulation Event: Reflection And Professional Role Response Essay.

Describe: 

Provide a critical analysis of the disaster simulation event. This should include some discussion as to what type of disaster was witnessed, the causes that contributed to the event, whether it was environmental or madmade, environmental factors. stakeholders involved, etc. 

Reflect on initial chaos of the disaster event. How was this managed and brought under control by the emergency response personnel (triage, treatment, evacuation, managing emotional responses from those involved, etc)? 

Consider the Incident Commander and areas of operation throughout this scenario. What areas of operation were established during the event? What was the response plan for this event? Was this plan appropriate for this type of disaster?

If not, what should have been done differently? What other aspects of disaster response planning should be considered for this type of disaster event (resource management. psychological first-aid, animal welfare. etc.)? 

Consider your role within the health profession that you are studying (i.e. Public Health, Health Services Management. etc.) Define your role as a health professioral in relation to this scenario. discuss what your response would be to this event and how you might manage this within your professional role. Detail your plan as though you were overseeing command for your professional oody In this event.

Part 1. Description of the disaster within the simulation

A disaster not only plays a public health threat but also affects the health and wellbeing of all those who are involved ( Coppola, 2017; Girard et al., 2016). Preparation for the management of a disaster situation, including triage and treatment of those involved in the disaster situation is highly crucial for the survival of the individuals involved (Veenema, 2018). The process of disaster management is a unique one and requires the input of both paramedics and other in-hospital staff including nurses, surgeons, clinical officers among other for appropriate and timely management of critically hurt or wounded patients (Slade et al., 2015). Team collaboration is essential if all the patients are to survive and an appropriate flow of tasks and duties throughout the management process is essential (Haynes, 2015; Katzenbach & Smith, 2015).

The disaster simulated represents a natural disaster. From examination of the scene, it can be seen that the chairs have fallen. The situation also occurs suddenly since the screams can be seen to begin suddenly. From my analysis, I can also see the emergency personal trying to communicate with one another as they try to manage the situation. However, the paramedics are taking a lot of  time without action. The paramedics were not well prepared to manage the emergency situation, in my view. They are preparing their equipment after they have already landed at the accident site instead of being ready before they actually get to the site.

Paramedics can also be seen conversing with the people who were affected emotionally by the situation. One paramedic is seen conversing with the people and telling them such an occurrence happened last year.

Ranking of patients based on urgency was however not done. The patients were not given bracelets indicating the level of urgency of care needed. It is crucial to use bracelets of different colors including red, black and green or according to institutional and national policies regarding emergency response ( Alexandra et al., 2015). The use of bracelets helps to assess the patients to receive care first before others (Sacino et al., 2016).

Early assessment of patients is crucial to management of the patients in an emergency situation ( Moore et al., 2015). The paramedics took a lot of time before assessing the consciousness of the patients at the scene. Inability to arrive at a decision on the most critical patient can be seen by the paramedics inability to properly categorize and pick the urgent patients from the site. A paramedic is seen performing a physical assessment after a very long time, it should have been done immediately. However, the emergency personal also did good by using the head tilt and chin lift maneuver when receiving the patients from the site while on the mobile beds or carriages.

The initial response of the emergency was properly managed by the emergency personal. The casualties were taken outside the scene appropriate management. However, not all the casualties accounted for initially. Those responsible for managing the casualties took a lot of time. Delay in emergency response is responsible for massive loss of life.

Part 2. Disaster Response in Regard to Professional Role

Triage took a lot of time, triage is essential for proper medical care (Azeredo et all., 2015). Treatment was also administered later on but it should have been immediate based on the needs of the patients. Evacuation was not well planned as can be seen by the hesitation of the triage personnel. Evacuation should be timely, well ordered and appropriate shelter should be provided for in cases of emergence which was not available. Shelter should have been provided for during the crisis, such as enough tents for the patients or clients.

Proper communication and planning should be made before assessing the site. The paramedics should have a well formulated plan to use before assessing the site of the disaster. Proper disaster management involves having a well established plan to address different case scenarios of emergency. The paramedics should already have an instituted plan to deal with the disaster which they did not have.

Communication should also be done through appropriate channels which was not done. There was a confusion when playing communication . A proper chain of communication is essential if the planning process should be successful.

The incidence commander had a responsibility to ensure enough equipment were available for the disaster. However, the equipment and personal were not enough to manage the emergency. For better management of the disaster, it would have been appropriate for the incidence commander to order the triage and treatment officers to advises those below them to work taste for efficient and appropriate management of the situation.

The incidence commander should also have ensured enough tents and external resources were provided for. Tents or shelter for those involved in the disaster are necessary for the appropriate management of the situation.

Enough psychologists or personnel to offer psychological assistance should have been placed at the site. Very few personal were available. Trauma from the a sudden tormenting event has a tremendous effect I the health of the individuals who are involved in it and that includes their emotional and psychological health and well-being.

Solutions for the problems identified include ensuring that enough personnel are available all points of the emergency response, ensuring that medical personal offer care based on the urgency. Appropriate triage must be provided for so as to ensure all the patients receive timely and adequate care.

Other paramedics from other institutions should have been included in the emergency response system. The availability of enough personal to manage the emergency is essential if it is to succeed

The following of appropriate triage rules and procedures ensures that the mortality rate from the incident is decreased. Basic life support procedure also ought to be followed. Checking the patients circulation, assessing the patency of the airway, checking the breathing and using a defibrillator is essential. No defibrillator was available at the scene which was wrong.

The basic of basic life support were not followed and yet they were essential for the survival of the patients present at the simulated event.

As public health professional it is my duty to ensure appropriate psychological support is accorded to those involved in the incident. It is also crucial to ensure that the basics of hygiene and personal protection are maintained throughout the situation (Harris et al., 2018).

Solutions for the Problems Identified

Use of an aseptic technique when addressing he issues of the patients should also be done. It is crucial to ensure that all the patients have received timely and adequate care. Fellow medical personal within the team should be informed of the importance of time management when taking care of patients in the crisis (Harris et al., 2018).

As a public health specialist I will also follow the guidelines regarding management of dictators. I will ensure policies that govern the control of disasters within the country are followed to the later. The minimum number of personal available and procedures of referral will be followed  (Harris et al., 2018)

The availability of resources is also crucial success of the evacuation and support process. I will ensure resources of adequate amount are made available at the site. Resources such as gloves and personnel protective clothing are essential as they help the emergency response time not to contract any ailment or disease ( Twigg et all., 2018)

I will also ensure that the flow of the evacuation process is smooth to avoid injuries. Rapid movement from the emergency site mean that the risks of injury and accidents increase. It is this crucial that all the victims are evacuated slowly and in a systematic manner to ensure that their physical state is not utterly worsened  (Harris et al., 2018).

Collaboration with other state agencies is crucial in cases of shortage of medical personal. I will entire that other hospital and response teams within the vicinity of the incident are properly informed of the occurrence and are ready to be involved in the rescue, triage and treatment processes  (Harris et al., 2018).

Conclusion

In conclusion, the primary survey and secondary survey for the simulated event were not properly performed. There were a lot of missed opportunities during the survey and rescue process which needed to be filled. The personnel, especially the incident manager, should have done a prior extensive assessment of the situation to ensure that all the needs were properly addressed. A lot still needs to be done to ensure timely and adequate care is accorded to patients in such an emergency situation.

References

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Azeredo, T. R. M., Guedes, H. M., de Almeida, R. A. R., Chianca, T. C. M., & Martins, J. C. A. (2015). Efficacy of the Manchester Triage System: a systematic review. International emergency nursing, 23(2), 47-52.

Coppola, M. (2017). Law Enforcement Aviation Unit Emergency Response Plan. TECHBeat Dated, 6-7.

Girard, C., David, P., Piatyszek, E., & Flaus, J. (2016). Emergency response plan: Model-based assessment with multi-state degradation. Safety science, 85, 230-240.

Harris, C., McCarthy, K., Liu, E. L., Klein, K., Swienton, R., Prins, P., & Waltz, T. (2018). Expanding understanding of response roles: an examination of immediate and first responders in the United States. International journal of environmental research and public health, 15(3), 534.

Haynes, P. (2015). Managing complexity in the public services. Routledge.

Katzenbach, J.  & Smith, D. (2015). The wisdom of teams: Creating the high-performance organization. Harvard Business Review Press.

Moore, G. F., Audrey, S., Barker, M., Bond, L., Bonell, C., Hardeman, W., ... & Baird, J. (2015). Process evaluation of complex interventions: Medical Research Council guidance. bmj, 350, h1258.

Sacino, A. N., Shuster, J. J., Nowicki, K. W., Carek, P. J., Wegman, M. P., Listhaus, A., ... & Chang, K. L. (2016). Novel Application of a Reverse Triage Protocol Providing Increased Access to Care in an Outpatient, Primary Care Clinic Setting. Family medicine, 48(2), 136.

Slade, D., Manidis, M., McGregor, J., Scheeres, H., Chandler, E., Stein-Parbury, J. & Matthiessen, C. (2015). Communicating in hospital emergency departments. Springer.

Twigg, J., & Mosel, I. (2017). Emergent groups and spontaneous volunteers in urban disaster response. Environment and Urbanization, 29(2), 443-458.

Veenema, (2018). Disaster nursing and emergency preparedness. Springer Publishing Company.