Code Yellow: Hurricane Harvey at the Hospital
“Code Yellow.” I will
never forget those words being called over the hospital intercom. In a state of
disbelief, I began frantically searching through every policy and procedure
handbook I could find.
I knew living on the
Texas coast that a hurricane was a possibility but never thought it would
become a reality. So, when the trajectory and intensity of Hurricane Harvey
shifted course and headed straight for Corpus Christi, I was in shock. That
shock quickly turned to focus when I realized I had to formulate a plan. Our
Designated Institutional Official (DIO) had not taken a vacation in over 5
years. When he finally decided to take some time off, a hurricane hit. As a
relatively new residency administrator, the only disaster plan I knew of involved
the DIO being on-site in the command center and directing us from there. Obviously,
that wasn’t going to happen this time. The chief residents and I quickly banded
together in my tiny office to conjure up an action plan. With multiple
campuses, limited resources, and a small disaster team, we set out to conquer
what seemed to be an unsurmountable task ahead.
Hurricane Harvey gave us some of our worst moments. Second-hand information and poor communication are at the root of almost every morbidity and mortality (M&M) conference, serious event analysis, and near miss in a hospital; however, I wasn’t able to fully understand why this happened so often until I was the one living it. I had studied health system theori...
Source: Academic Medicine Blog - Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Guest Author Tags: Featured Guest Perspective community engagement disaster preparedness Hurricane Harvey residency Source Type: blogs
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