Author: Andrew Jones, DVM, Veterinary Risk Specialist
What is emergency preparedness? It's more than just a written document or plan; it's a state of mind and dedication to keeping patients, clients, and staff safe during an emergency. Emergencies can occur at any time and can have profound impacts. That's why it's important to consider emergency planning and how it can fit into your business and practice. In this article we will take a look at some of the components of emergency planning and what you should consider when making your own plan.
The first step in emergency planning is to consider what emergencies may impact your business. There is no way to predict everything that could happen, but there are some scenarios that are more likely to occur and should be considered. Do you live in an area of the country impacted by hurricanes? Are you located in an area prone to wildfires? Could your business lose power and become temporarily isolated due to snow and ice during a winter storm? Take some time to list out the different emergency scenarios that could impact you. If you have multiple team members in your practice, work together to compile your list.
The next step of your emergency plan is to consider how your list of emergency situations could impact you and your business. No two practices or pharmacies are the same, so the potential risks posed by emergency situations will differ. How many staff members are present at any time? How many clients and patients might you have in your practice? What equipment and medications do you have onsite that might become lost or damaged? Think about all the components of your business and how a given emergency might impact each one.
Now that you've considered the risks and how those could impact you, it's time to think of mitigation strategies. Consider sources of backup power in case of primary power loss. Generators can help keep critical equipment functioning during losses of power. Think about exit strategies from your building. If one section becomes inaccessible during an emergency, do you have other means of vacating the premises? Think about evacuation plans and strategies to help all staff and clients get safely out of the building or shelter in place if needed. Consider setting up an automated emergency alert system that can easily be activated when necessary. This is likely the part of the plan you will need to spend the most time on so be sure to allow yourself enough time to consider all the risks you identified and think through strategies you could use to counter those risks.
Once you have identified the risks, potential impacts, and mitigation techniques, the next step is to identify responsible parties for each component of your plan. These roles should be clearly identified so there is no question who is responsible for what actions.
It is also important to make sure staff contact information is up to date. If staff members have recently changed in your practice, make sure your plan reflects that. Also consider building in redundancies to your plan in case an individual is unavailable and someone else is needed to complete the task.
Now that you have the main components of your plan in place, it is time to review the plan as a team. Set time aside to bring everyone together to discuss the document. Are there components that you missed? Are there alternate suggestions that make more sense? Give everyone a chance to review and don't be afraid to make edits as needed.
The final step in emergency planning is perhaps the most critical, and that is training on the plan. You have put the time and effort into crafting a well thought out document, so don't just relegate it to the shelf. All responsible parties should be familiar and comfortable with the plan prior to an emergency ever taking place. The worst time to familiarize yourself with the plan is during an emergency. Once you have trained the entire team on the plan, put it into action with regular drills. Pick an emergency to run through and have everyone play the role they would fill if this was an actual event. While this may seem awkward at first, the idea is to become comfortable with the components of the plan and make it second nature should an actual emergency occur. Take notes during the exercise and allow for a post-training debrief. Discuss what parts of the plan worked well, and what parts could be improved. Incorporate the feedback into your plan and schedule routine training sessions to work through all sections of the document.
Hopefully you don't experience an emergency in your practice or pharmacy, but having a plan in place should make you more prepared if you do. Remember that this is a living document and should be trained on and reviewed at regular intervals. And don't forget that emergency preparedness is more than just the written plan. Incorporating routine discussions on emergency planning helps to keep it fresh in everyone's mind. This can help your team feel more comfortable should an emergency arise. While no plan will ever be 100% effective, being prepared can still make a huge difference.
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