2017 AMDA Conference

Serious weather-related or other types of disasters can severely impact our ability to safely care for our residents. The evaluation and decision process to shelter in place or to evacuate residents is critical to best care for our communities of residents. Last fall’s Hurricane Harvey posed a widespread risk to several nursing facilities in the Houston, Texas area. This session will cover case presentations and group discussion of the following aspects of responding to a disaster: ongoing baseline disaster preparedness for nursing facilities, the decision-making process when a substantial threat is identified, mobilizing resources to assist in facility evacuation, tracking the evacuation of individual residents, assuring that medications and other services remain available for residents throughout the process.

Learning Objectives:
(1) Discuss the physical and regulatory risks of hurricanes and other natural disasters.
(2) Demonstrate knowledge of the components of a comprehensive disaster response plan.
(3) Explain how effective coordination of the interdisciplinary team is crucial to a successful response.
(4) Describe how effective communication with the electronic medical record system is essential for coordination of pharmacy providers, administrators, directors of nursing, and medical directors in the facilities that are evacuating and receiving residents during a natural disaster.