WIHI - A Podcast from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement
Health & Fitness:Medicine
May 16, 2013
Hurricane Sandy first struck the Caribbean and then the entire East Coast of the United States at the end of October 2012. The storm smacked into New York and New Jersey especially hard, impacting millions. The story of how the largest health care system in the region, North Shore–LIJ, operated throughout to ensure patients and staff were protected and supported, under fierce circumstances, is one that communities and hospitals everywhere can learn from. This WIHI features three leaders from NS-LIJ who were responsible for every kind of decision imaginable before, during, and after the storm.
Some of the decisions included transferring hundreds of nursing home residents out of harm’s way, taking in patients from other hospitals, assisting at area shelters, buying up fuel for ambulances, and opening up a resource center for hospital staff whose homes and neighborhoods had been torn apart and flooded. One of the back stories to NS-LIJ’s response is the degree to which it was built upon critical lessons learned during Hurricane Irene, a year before. In 2009, there was the H1N1 outbreak. In each instance, the health system did things well, and saw where it fell short; now that Hurricane Sandy has come and gone, this same type of assessment continues.
Health care organizations and first responders must prepare for many types of crises and disasters. Reflecting on the recent Boston Marathon bombings, which killed three and seriously injured over 200 (NEJM, April 24, 2013), authors Arthur Kellermann and Kobi Pelag write, “The best way hospitals can prepare is to base their response on a strong foundation of daily health care delivery.” So, routine and reliably safe practices, guided by continuous quality improvement, is lesson one for emergency planning. WIHI host Madge Kaplan invites you to learn more in this timely discussion.
WIHI: No Excuses, No Slack! The Latest from the Front Lines on Hand Hygiene
WIHI: Clinicians and Financial Staff Can Improve Quality and Lower Costs, Part 2
WIHI: Employers and Employees Can Improve Quality and Lower Costs: Stories from the Front Lines, Part 1
WIHI: A Partnership to Reduce Deaths from Sepsis
WIHI: Navigating New Care Teams with Nurse Practitioners
WIHI: Reality Knocks with Reducing (Hospital) Readmissions
WIHI: OpenNotes: Doctors and Patients Are on the Same Page
WIHI: Gaining Ground: Quality Improvement and US Medical Residency
WIHI: Navigating the Elections with a Clear-Eyed View
WIHI: Pioneering ACOs: What Do We Know So Far?
WIHI: Conversations as Cornerstones of End-of-Life Wishes
WIHI: Minimally Disruptive Medicine
WIHI: Triple Perspectives on Triple Aim in a Region
WIHI: Essential Skills for Health Care Reformers and Improvers: Holding Tension and Learning Habits of the Heart
WIHI: Situational Awareness and Patient Safety
WIHI: Testing,Testing! Is This Procedure Necessary?
WIHI: "Pursuing the Triple Aim" Book Discussion with the Authors and Innovators
WIHI: You Can't Improve What You Can't Evaluate
WIHI: Going, Going, Green! Embedding Environmental Health and Sustainability into Health Care Delivery
WIHI: What Can You Learn in 90 Days? IHI’s Innovation Process
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Good Mood Revolution
The Relaxback UK Show
On Call With Dr. Anselm Anyoha
Precision Medicine Forum Podcast
The Doctor’s Farmacy with Mark Hyman, M.D.
The Peter Attia Drive