Table of Content
This document provides post-storm recovery guidance and checklists for nursing homes/ long term care facilities. This guidance document provides supportive interventions designed to reduce the initial distress caused by traumatic events and help in the immediate aftermath of a disaster. The guide is intended for nurses, certified nurses' aides, social workers, and other direct-care staff. This rule establishes consistent emergency preparedness requirements for health care providers participating in Medicare and Medicaid, increases patient safety during emergencies, and establishes a more coordinated response to natural and man-made disasters. We would like to thank the California Association of Health Facilities for their use of grant-funded resources to adapt and expand the Hospital Incident Command System materials for the benefit of nursing facilities and other long-term care service providers. This document is an assessment form for residents of long-term care facilities who need to be evacuated and transported in an emergency.
The Nursing Home Incident Command System should be considered an essential component of a facility’s Emergency Operations Plan that includes events such as pandemics. Proper utilization of NHICS requires that facilities provide its staff with comprehensive training and exercise of the system. NHICS is a resilient incident management model that will guide a facility on managing a situation, either emergent or non-emergent, in a consistent manner in accordance with concepts promoted by the National Incident Management System .
Plans, Tools, and Templates: Emergency Planning
Individuals needing long-term care may include the elderly, those with chronic health conditions, and individuals requiring short-term rehabilitation. The authors asked nursing homes in North Carolina and South Carolina to measure their preparedness using the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services emergency preparedness checklist. In October 2007, a series of wildfires burned over 500,000 acres in Southern California causing 14 nursing homes to evacuate more than 1,200 residents. In response to this event, nursing home administrators and officials from various healthcare and emergency management agencies in San Diego County collaborated to form a model for nursing home emergency preparedness. The authors of this report describe the model, known as the area coordinator system, and discuss its strengths, limitations, and how it could be replicated in other areas of the country.
This report details findings from an investigation into the negative effects of the 2017 hurricane season on nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Part VI lists specific recommendations these types of facilities can take into consideration to improve emergency preparedness. This document highlights five nursing homes in Indian Country and provides information on their emergency preparedness plans, partners, training, and funding sources. It also includes recommendations from these facilities on what has worked well for them as it relates to emergency preparedness.
Facility Operations
This emergency preparedness checklist is geared towards residents, families, and other interested parties. It includes sections for long-term care ombudsmen, and long-term care residents, their family members, friends, personal caregivers, and guardians. This presentation discusses key emergency preparedness and response-related issues facing long-term care facilities, and some best practices for addressing challenges, including those pertaining to security. This webpage includes links to toolkits and other resources designed to help certain types of healthcare facilities better understand the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Emergency Preparedness Rule. There is both a PDF and Word version for each facility type, and the relevant CMS rules for each facility type are included. Each toolkit includes sample templates and planning worksheets that can help facilities develop compliant plans, policies, and procedures.
The authors of this article describe the influenza pandemic planning process that was conducted by a geriatric facility in Toronto, Canada. The facility developed a pandemic plan in order to ensure preparedness for staff, clients, and families. This document provides guidance to long-term care facilities on developing or modifying emergency preparedness communications procedures. These slides are from a webinar that discussed the results of a study conducted by the Emory University Preparedness and Emergency Response Research Center . The study examined disaster preparedness in nursing homes and home health agencies, which have typically not been included in disaster planning efforts. This program has been produced by the Center for HICS Education and Training with funding from the California Long Term Care Association.
Plans, Tools, and Templates: Pandemic/Epidemic Influenza Planning
Also included are webinar recordings describing how to use each of the plan templates and guidance on effectively developing a testing plan using the template. While developed for the COVID-19 pandemic, these resources may be used for other epidemics that stress staffing and testing resources. It may be used to develop a hazard-specific Pandemic Influenza Plan Annex to a facility’s Emergency Operations Plan. This resource provides criteria for evacuation decision-making in nursing homes and is intended to assist administrators and healthcare professionals determine whether to evacuate or shelter-in-place during disasters.
The materials contained within are provided for Nursing Homes and other Long Term Care Facilities in development of emergency preparedness and response programs. This program has been produced by the Center for HICS Education and Training with funding from the California Association of Health Facilities. Further, utilization of NHICS will help promote “interoperability” with the community’s emergency responders (fire, police, EMS, etc.) as they also utilize a version of the Incident Command System on all types of emergency situations. This basic guide is for non-clinical staff who become involved in direct patient care during an influenza pandemic or other emergency particularly if they do not normally care for patients with dementia. The document addresses areas of concern for long-term care residents with dementia that may require special attention during an influenza pandemic, along with potential response strategies.
Guidance and Guidelines
The authors of this report discuss the findings of their study on the evaluation of pre- and post-hurricane mental health service use in Florida nursing homes. Results indicated that although most nursing homes provided some type of mental health service during normal operations, disaster-related mental health services were not routinely provided to residents. The authors also found that receiving facilities were more likely than evacuating facilities to provide treatment to evacuated residents. This document was created to assist nursing homes with the ongoing process of training, exercising, and evaluation to support staff preparedness for emergency response. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention developed this resource to provide guidance for influenza outbreak management in long-term care facilities. It addresses preventing transmission of influenza viruses and other infectious agents within long-term care facilities, with a multi-faceted approach that includes vaccination, testing, infection control, antiviral treatment, and antiviral chemoprophylaxis.
The objectives of this study were to describe the iterative process of emergency planning and preparedness as it relates to post-acute rehabilitation facilities. The study focused on facility staff involved in the evacuation and ongoing care post evacuation, and adults with moderate to severe acquired brain injury receiving residential post-acute rehabilitation and long-term care services. This video was developed to be an educational tool for staff training on emergency preparedness specific to long-term care facilities. This resource page for LTC owners, administrators, and staff and their emergency preparedness partners includes downloadable Word templates to create contingency staffing and testing plans for LTCs.
The authors examined nursing home preparedness needs by studying the experiences of nursing homes that sheltered evacuees from Hurricane Katrina. Specific supply, medication, medical records, staffing, and mental health issues were identified for targeted attention during planning. This guidebook is designed to help long-term care facilities evaluate their preparedness for an evacuation. The Disaster Ready Emergency Preparedness Infection Control program provides education and technical assistance for skilled nursing providers throughout the state.
This document provides the findings of focus groups from five states, in which the emphasis of discussions was disaster preparedness in nursing homes. This workbook provides considerations for nursing home facilities that are developing or updating their evacuation plans. It is intended to be used in any emergency requiring either a full or partial evacuation of the nursing home. It provides situations, assumptions, legal authorities, concept of operations, a list of roles and responsibilities, and checklists for various hazards. The Incident Command System, or ICS, is a uniform management model which allows its users to adopt a standard approach for responding to incidents.
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