Crisis Management Plan - Managment Paper Example

Crisis management plan is the process by which an organization strategizes to deal with any disruptive or unexpected disaster which is a threat to the organization, institution, public, and the stakeholders (Arora & Arora, 2013). Crisis management plan involves setting in place a quick decision-making process to prepare for any unexpected harm. The human resource management of an organization or an institute has the duty to plan the process of crisis management. Healthcare organizations are exposed to a variety of crisis where preparedness and transparency are essential to enable the survival of the healthcare during the crisis and even after the crisis (Arora & Arora, 2013). In crisis management plan, communication is the most significant tool used to survive the crisis. The communication plans are then communicated more regularly to ensure preparedness and competence during disaster management (Arora & Arora, 2013). This crisis management plan is set for MedPost Urgent healthcare. MedPost Urgent care offers the following service for the patients; in-patient, in-house lab work and x-rays, and occupational health. Additionally, MedPost Urgent care also offers online or phone check-in services to avoid queuing. MedPost Urgent care is a large organization that requires crisis management plans. This crisis management plan will address a building failure crisis during a natural disaster like an earthquake which sets the hospital at risk of experiencing more deaths from both patients and staffs.

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Ethical approaches

During crisis or disaster management resources need to be distributed uniformly by applying ethical considerations (Call, et al., 2012). Regarding the ethical approaches used during crisis management, resource management personnel play a very significant role to ensure that patient safety, personnel safety and lastly the most important is personnel availability for disaster management. The ethical values that are applied during a crisis management include fairness, professional duty, and stewardship (Call, et al., 2012). Concerning fairness, it is the duty of the healthcare professional in MedPost Urgent care to know and identify who receives what and at what point during the crisis. In this case of a healthcare setting, there are vulnerable individuals mostly in the ICU units and other in-patient departments. Vulnerable populations in the healthcare will need more attention, and also special interventions will be good for them. Having in mind that not every need will be met fully by a disaster management, fairness in resource distribution is the key approach for a successful disaster management plan. In the MedPost Urgent care, the vulnerable population in the occupational health will need an extra supply of evacuation procedures to facilitate a successful disaster management when faced with a fatal building failure. Fair distribution of resources has been favored even in the ethics of healthcare practice whereby all persons should be treated with respect and dignity. The second ethical value that will be necessary for all patients is a professional duty. Professional duty is an ethical value which is applied during disaster management, and it involves limiting the harm of the disaster on patients and other colleagues. Regarding professional duty, the resource management department will apply their expertise knowledge to address the possible needs during a disaster management plan. Having in mind that not all requirements will be met during a crisis management plan, professional duty involves filling up the gaps that will require professional care and again, creating more space for the incoming patients. The resource management will also ensure that the available resources are well utilized and fairly distributed regarding staffs that are available at the MedPost Urgent Care (Call, et al., 2012).

Another ethical value to be applied by the resource management is stewardship. Stewardship involves taking steps to plan before the disaster attacks the premises (Call, et al., 2012). The resource management plan on stewardship requires structural planning that will ensure safety before and during the disaster. The resource management will use the steward ethical value to evaluate the cost associated safety measures to ensure that there is a structural safety or reinforcing the building structures that will ensure the building to withstand some natural and manmade crisis (Venkatesan, et al., 2014). When ensuring building safety, the resource management will also ensure that the measures put in place do not affect any personnel including incoming patients, in-patients and the staffs in the MedPost Urgent care. Stewardship will also ensure that patient triaging tools are available before the disaster hits the facility. Triaging tools are very important in the healthcare premises because most of the patients are immobile (Call, et al., 2012).

Ethical approaches to be used during crisis management by the resource management will also include ethical process elements for a successful disaster survival. Ethical process elements involve transparency, consistency and proportionality, and accountability (Call, et al., 2012). Consistency as an ethical process will require the resource management team to consider the religious, cultural, social, and economic background of the population. The reason for applying consistency during a crisis management is to ensure there is no discrimination toward any group. Consistency will also ensure all groups in the healthcare are treated alike. Transparency is another ethical process that will require the development of a plan that will involve staffs, locals and stakeholders, and community resources. Transparency will also involve sharing of the evidence-based process that will be used in the disaster management process. The other ethical process is proportionality which will require all resources to be allocated equitably. Accountability is also another ethical process where resource management team will ensure the healthcare professionals will have the duty to respond to the disaster (Call, et al., 2012).

Chain of command

The authoritative chain of command for crisis management will involve a hierarchy chain of command. In the hierarchy chain of command, the head of the MedPost Urgent care resource management has the duty to give commands to the colleagues in the facility regarding the management plan. Using the authoritative chain of command will be effective for the facility whereby allocating of duties according to the management plan will be done through authoritative commands. In the authoritative command chain command, the duties and responsibilities of the incident commander will be to give directions and allocate duties to the available human resources. It is the responsibility of an incident commander to master the management plan because they are the key steer holders during a disaster management incident. Following a building failure crisis in the MedPost Urgent care, the incident commander has the duty to coordinate all the available human resources on the directions and measures to take. It is also the duty of an incident commander to identify the measures that will enable a successful survival during the attack. Another important person in the chain of command is the communication officer. The duty and responsibility of a communication officer are to ensure every personnel is informed of the measures and responsibilities to take during a disaster management scenario (Hopkin, 2013). The communication officer will apply proper communication skills and strategies to ensure that all involved parties in the disaster management plan have accessed the management plan (Hopkin, 2013).

Community involvement

Concerning the importance of community involvement in the disaster management plan, it serves as a source of resources regarding the human resources which are essential during a disaster evacuation plan. Having in mind that not all needs are met during disaster management plan, the community involvement in the disaster management plan will be very useful to fill the gaps in the master plan. Again, the community will facilitate in ensuring personnel availability during a disaster management. When involving the community, it is advisable to ensure there is adequate community communication. Community communication is very important for creating awareness concerning a disaster management (Landesman & American Public Health Association, 2012). On the case of building failure, the surrounding community may also be affected by the disaster, and therefore community communication will keep in place all issues that might affect the surrounding community following a building failure disaster in the MedPost Urgent care.

Community communication regarding the disaster management plan is important in maximizing the response during a disaster. For instance, in the case of building failure, the staffs and patients are both affected and again not all of them will manage to evacuate the building safely. Informing the community about the disaster management plan will allow their quick response and participation. Community coordination is another aspect of disaster management plan which will ensure a successful disaster management approach by the community personnel. In the healthcare, safety measures are required to ensure ethical approaches are put in place. Through community coordination during a disaster management, they are informed on the key points that will ensure their safety as well as the patient's safety following a building failure (Landesman & American Public Health Association, 2012).

Policies for Personnel Management Safety

The necessary policies for personnel management and safety are ensuring lockdown levels work best to keep off any unauthorized personnel (Landesman & American Public Health Association, 2012). The lock-down policies are in best ways put forward to ensure safety on both the entry/exit during a disaster management plan. The policies include ensuring a secure perimeter around the affected building or premises. The purpose of using a lock down policy is to ensure the safety of the incoming patients and also other distractions during the crisis management. There are different levels of lockdown that can be applied during the incident which includes. For the building failure crisis, the incident officer will ensure the application of level-B, type-IV lockdown. In type-IV, it is a partial lockdown where all the foot traffic in the premises are directed towards a designed exit or entrances, and the security officers will maintain and control the exit and entrances in the designated exit/entrances (Landesman & American Public Health Association, 2012). Regarding the family communication abilities, the policies to be set involves a strict use of the media channels where right information will be given concerning the incident. The families' have the right to access the progress of their patient, and therefore the incident should also be informed of them accordingly.

Steps for Supply Chain Management

The steps for supply chain management both for personnel and the supplies needed to provide care will require priorities to ensure equality and fairness in the distribution of resources (Landesman & American Public Health Association, 2012). The first step in supply chain management in the MedPost Urgent care concerning the building failure disaster will include the supply of triage tools for the safety of patients. Triage tools are essential for patients because they are the most at-risk population during the disaster. The second priory in the supply chain management will be supplies of structural tools to prevent the incident from taking place. Structural resources used in the building will en...