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: Tags: Featured Guest Perspective community engagement disaster preparedness Hurricane Harvey residency Source Type: blogs