Healthcare Administration
Organizational Crisis: Anthrax Outbreak in a Hospital
Tuesday morning, the United States Hospitals, day to day operations began just like any other. By 10:00am, during the administration’s morning meeting, the sound of the code red alarm rang throughout the facility. Dr. Inspection, an epidemiologist, informs the team that he has positive test results identifying anthrax in the system of 10 patients. Shock crosses all faces in the board room, but survival mode quickly takes over. The hospital administration and Committee Chair agree with the recommendation of the epidemiologist to enact the bioterrorism readiness plan. The procedures had just been written into the IC policy 9 months ago. Although the document does have a …show more content…
It is essential that large healthcare institutions, like the United States Hospital, have risk management strategies in place that reduce the number of possible casualties. The plan drafted by the board addresses both proactive and reactive circumstances. Proactive components are activities to help prevent harm or injury to an individual and reactive components include actions in response to adverse occurrences or a loss ("Indian Health Service," 2013). The four steps to access the risk at hand begins with gathering and the utilization of data. This consists of research to diagnose or identify the potential threat. If there is risk involved, that causes an adverse effect to patience care and/or hospital staff in the situation. The answer to the question, “how much will the threat impact the hospital,” will determine the prognosis of the risk. The hospital administration and board make thorough decisions to manage the risk with a number of precautions to protect the thousands of people on the facilities grounds (Franz, Jahrling, Friedlander, McClain, Hoover and Bryne,