disaster relief Archives

By Deborah Swanson

Alongside firefighters, police, and other first responders, physicians are often some of the first people to respond to disasters. In emergency situations, physicians have to balance many competing priorities, from figuring out which patients to treat first to weighing their own safety against the need to treat patients. If you’re a physician wondering what your role is when it comes to disaster response, here are seven things that can help you prepare for the next emergency:

Remember Your Ethical Commitments

Disaster relief can present a complex ethical situation for individual physicians. Doctors have an obligation to provide critical medical care while also weighing the risks of providing care in the moment vs. being able to provide care in the future. After all, disaster relief can put physicians’ safety and health, and sometimes even their lives, in danger. The American Medical Association provides the following ethical guidelines for disaster relief:

“With respect to disaster, whether natural or manmade, individual physicians should:

(a) Take appropriate advance measures, including acquiring and maintaining appropriate knowledge and skills to ensure they are able to provide medical services when needed.
Collectively, physicians should:

(b) Provide medical expertise and work with others to develop public health policies that:

1. Are designed to improve the effectiveness and availability of medical services during a disaster

2. Are based on sound science

3. Are based on respect for patients

Take an Emergency Response Training Course

Your hospital will likely provide disaster response training, and other seminars and workshops may also be available locally. There’s also training available from international and national organizations, such as the American Board of Disaster Medicine (ABODM). Through ABODM, the American Board of Physician Specialties® (ABPS) offers disaster medicine certification and recertification to physicians of many different specialties and backgrounds. After applicants meet the eligibility requirements, they must pass an online exam that runs for four hours and consists of 200 multiple-choice questions. The certification shows that physicians are skilled in competencies critical in a disaster, such as triage principles, protective equipment, psychological first aid and more.

Build Relationships with Local Agencies

If you live in an area prone to floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, wildfires and other natural disasters, it’s a good idea to build relationships with your local agencies so you know what their plan is in a crisis and who to call. These agencies may also be able to assist you in updating your hospital’s emergency contingency plans so you can work together. Even if you’re lucky enough to live in an area that doesn’t get a lot of natural disasters, you should still get to know your local agencies in case of a situation such as an active shooter, which can occur no matter where you live.

Plan, Plan, Plan Ahead

Don’t wait until a disaster strikes and then grab your medical bag and try to react in the moment. You should have a plan in case of a disaster at the personal, family and institutional level. For example, if a flood strikes your area, you should know how to keep yourself safe, where your family will evacuate to and what your hospital will do in the time of crisis. Your facility will likely already have a plan in place, but there’s always room for improvement. If you have experience in disaster relief or have gotten your certification, you can volunteer to review the policies or serve on an assessment committee.

Embrace Your Leadership Role

In some cases, you may be directly responsible for helping your facility to prepare for and respond to disasters—for example, if you serve as an emergency physician in addition to acting as the chief of hospital operations. In other situations, you may not have a direct leadership role when it comes to disaster relief. Even so, in emergencies, people naturally look to physicians for leadership. Your nurses, techs, and other medical personnel will definitely be looking to you to lead, and so may ordinary citizens and bystanders. Clear-minded decisions by an authority figure can make a difference in a disaster, so rather than resisting this role, embrace it and prepare for it as much as possible.

Make Sure Your Own Family Is Prepared

You won’t be able to care for patients in a crisis very well if you’re worried about your loved ones. Talk with your spouse, partner, children and anyone you’re responsible for to come up with a plan in the case of common disasters. How will you communicate with each other? What will you do for food and water if you’re snowed into your house? If you need to evacuate suddenly, where will you meet up? Do you have a backup in case the power goes out? Your emergency plan should be customized to the natural disasters most likely to affect your area.

Register for Disaster Relief Organizations

If you’re really passionate about disaster relief, you can be proactive and volunteer for one of several organizations that helps mobilize doctors, nurses and other medical personnel to travel to disaster areas. The American Red Cross is perhaps the best-known organization, but there’s also Doctors Without Borders, the Emergency System for Advanced Registration of Volunteer Health Professionals, the Medical Reserve Corps, HealthRight International, the Registered Nurse Response Network and many more. Many of these organizations require you to complete additional training before you can be mobilized, but if you’re really passionate about disaster relief, it’s a great way to make a difference and truly save lives.

When it comes to a disaster, you can’t just throw on your scrubs and rush to the scene. Preparing in advance and having an emergency plan in place will maximize your chances of keeping yourself safe and treating as many patients as possible. Follow these seven steps to make sure you’re ready as a physician and as an individual in case you ever face a disaster.

Deborah Swanson is a Coordinator for the Real Caregivers Program at allheart.com. A site dedicated to celebrating medical professionals and their journeys. She keeps busy interviewing caregivers and writing about them and loves gardening.

Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

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Last week, the whole east coast of the United States closely monitored the path of Hurricane Florence, before she settled over the Carolinas and dropped monumental amounts of rain, displacing, trapping, injuring, and, sadly, claiming the lives of the people in her path. As a nurse, you may have sat there, watching with wide eyes as people were pulled from the floodwaters on the news, and felt just a little bit helpless, itching to be on the “front lines.” After all, it is in your nature to help people. You wouldn’t be a nurse, otherwise.

There are ways for you to help, if you want to.

While in most cases, it may be too late to volunteer in the face of this particular natural disaster, as a medical professional with invaluable skills and expertise, your help will be needed in the future. There are multiple organizations you can register with to volunteer to support medical preparedness and response for future public health emergencies or disasters.

Emergency System for Advanced Registration of Volunteer Health Professionals

The Emergency System for Advanced Registration of Volunteer Health Professionals (ESAR-VHP) is a federal program that was created to support states in establishing volunteer programs for disasters and public health and medical emergencies. By registering with ESAR-VHP, your credentials and qualifications will be verified in advance, so you will be cleared to serve at a moment’s notice, wherever the next catastrophe strikes. Registration is free, and by registering, you are by no means obligated to help in any disaster—it solely gives you the ability to do so quickly, if you so choose. For more information or to register, please visit https://www.phe.gov/esarvhp/Pages/about.aspx.

The American Red Cross

In the event of a domestic or international disaster, the American Red Cross is quick to the scene, providing health and mental health support, as well as food and shelter, to those affected. On average, they respond to 64,000 disasters per year, and 90% of their humanitarian efforts are done by volunteers, including 15,000 nurses and nursing students. Licensed RNs, LPNs, LVNs, PAs, NPs, and APRNs are all in demand and are encouraged to volunteer. To learn more about the relief efforts of the American Red Cross, as well as their eligibility requirements, please visit https://www.redcross.org/volunteer/become-a-volunteer.html.

Medical Reserve Corps

The Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) is comprised of volunteer medical and public health professionals, such as physicians, nurses, physician assistants, pharmacists, and more, who assist with emergency medical response and public health initiatives. The MRC was formed after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, when it became clear that medical professionals had no organized way to volunteer for emergency relief efforts and many were turned away, as a result. The MRC now exists due to the willingness of volunteer medical and public health professionals to serve their communities in times of need. To learn more and sign up to volunteer, please visit: https://mrc.hhs.gov/HomePage.

No matter which organization you choose to volunteer with, be it listed above or another, be sure to do your research to ensure sure you will be partnering with an organization that is a good fit for you. The American College of Emergency Physicians has compiled a list of questions all health professionals should ask and/or consider when joining a disaster relief agency, which can be viewed here.