Crisis Mangement Communication Plan
Crisis Management Communication Plan
DJ
HCS 350
March 3, 2014
TT
Crisis Management Communication Plan
Being prepared for any potential emergency is necessary for health care organizations. Planning for a disaster is a topic that requires a great amount of information and research that can be relayed to a group of people for the purpose of maintaining safety and sustaining life. “Crisis is defined as an unexpected, sudden turn of events or set of circumstances requiring an immediate human response. People experience a crisis as overwhelming, traumatic, and personally intrusive. It is an unexpected life event challenging a person’ s sense of self and his or her place in the world,” (Arnold & Bogg, 2011, p. 434). According to Mehrotra (2008), “Crisis management refers to activities that encompass the immediate response to a disaster, recovery efforts, mitigation, and preparedness efforts to reduce the impact of possible future crises. Such activities can span a few hours to several months.”
Ideally, the disaster plans will give concrete guidelines on what a person should do if faced with any encounter, but there can be failures in communications at any given moment. For example, during the Hurricane Katrina Disaster in 2005, hospitals in the Louisiana area were affected. Initially, there must have been confusion and uncertainty. The power in hospitals went out meaning there were no phones, no computers, and no direct lines of communication for staff to use. The staff was forced to prioritize and treat those most in need of care because of limited resources. “Disaster intervention protocols focus on treating injury and acute illness, rather than chronic health conditions,” (Arnold & Bogg, 2011, p. 430). The staff did not need to have a meeting for this to be initiated; the guidelines were in place prior to the crisis.
There are a few ways to reduce stress during a crisis. Realizing that fear of a situation is the greatest influence of stress can
DJ
HCS 350
March 3, 2014
TT
Crisis Management Communication Plan
Being prepared for any potential emergency is necessary for health care organizations. Planning for a disaster is a topic that requires a great amount of information and research that can be relayed to a group of people for the purpose of maintaining safety and sustaining life. “Crisis is defined as an unexpected, sudden turn of events or set of circumstances requiring an immediate human response. People experience a crisis as overwhelming, traumatic, and personally intrusive. It is an unexpected life event challenging a person’ s sense of self and his or her place in the world,” (Arnold & Bogg, 2011, p. 434). According to Mehrotra (2008), “Crisis management refers to activities that encompass the immediate response to a disaster, recovery efforts, mitigation, and preparedness efforts to reduce the impact of possible future crises. Such activities can span a few hours to several months.”
Ideally, the disaster plans will give concrete guidelines on what a person should do if faced with any encounter, but there can be failures in communications at any given moment. For example, during the Hurricane Katrina Disaster in 2005, hospitals in the Louisiana area were affected. Initially, there must have been confusion and uncertainty. The power in hospitals went out meaning there were no phones, no computers, and no direct lines of communication for staff to use. The staff was forced to prioritize and treat those most in need of care because of limited resources. “Disaster intervention protocols focus on treating injury and acute illness, rather than chronic health conditions,” (Arnold & Bogg, 2011, p. 430). The staff did not need to have a meeting for this to be initiated; the guidelines were in place prior to the crisis.
There are a few ways to reduce stress during a crisis. Realizing that fear of a situation is the greatest influence of stress can