Introduction
Disasters and emergencies mostly place the management and the hospital staff under enormous strain. The decision and the services of the staff are highly affected by the harsh conditions of the disasters like the hurricane. The efficient response is critical through adequate staffing and expansion of emergency services. Critical analysis and the review of the literature suggest that it is unrealistic that all the workers are available at the emergency time of the disaster. The qualitative assessment unfolded the challenges that are faced by the professional and personal staff along with their management. The study also examines the issues and concerns of the hospital staff in combating natural disasters like hurricanes.
Discussion
Research Topic:
Public health management is highly concerned with the increasing natural disasters that are appearing in the last few decades. A number of attempts and strategies are applied to tackle the issue. The hurricane disaster claimed 2000 lives of the people. It also damaged the economic resources of around eighty billion dollars. The deadliest and most damaging disaster of American history has left researchers to find out certain strategies which could help public health representatives in dealing with the problem. The qualitative research has provided the key management roles in a response to Hurricane Sandy. The identification of the important factors also contributes to effective planning and response.
Literature Review:
In order to ensure the safety and the care of the patient, it is essential that the hospital must have the proper and effective strategies. The employees of the staff are also the victims and the emergency responders of the disaster they face. Interviews and conversations with the members of the hospital management help the examiner to have accurate analysis and the assumptions of the professionals who are tackling the respective disaster. There are certain methodologies and instruments that are applied to conduct a qualitative study. Updated instruments also help the researchers in finding reliable data and responses of the concerned individual.
Certain research methodologies can produce effective results. The qualitative analysis shows that a more descriptive detail of the responders of the hurricane sandy disaster is available for the researchers (Dillon, 2016). The study also discusses the thorough concerns and needs of the hospital staff. From the perspective of the employee, the study focused on the important aspects that influence the decision-making process during the natural disaster of the hurricane. The role of the executive and the middle management is very important in decreasing the patterns and barriers to reporting. Those individuals that are placed in the key management position during the time of the disasters are important for the research interviews.
Research Design:
The qualitative study implied by the research has interviewed two senior members of the hospital management. The guide for the interview contains other research material along with the literature already available for the research (Dobalian, 2017). The instruments that are used before the research was also implied in order to find productive and reasonable results. The questions comprised of the lesson learned by the hospital management staff, challenges, and the success they have after the disaster of hurricane sandy. For the analysis and the management of the transcribed data interviews were recorded with the software. Conversation and the text were highlighted by the preliminary codes and the literature that was already available for the assessment of the hospitals. The responses, barriers or hindrances, and available facilities were constructed through the exercise of the qualitative study.
The members of the research study after conducting the interviews discussed the main themes and the ideas that were produced through the responses of the hospital management. The conversation between the members of the research team helps them in resolving the conflicting responses of the professionals (Vick, 2017). They came up with the main focused ideas and the results of the research. The conflicts and the disagreement that occurred during the composition of the result were also resolved through positive discussion.
Results
The result of the qualitative analysis of the research unfolded certain important factors that hinder the services and the abilities of the hospital professionals and the management. The capabilities and the willingness of the professionals were impacted by various instances that occur during the disaster of hurricane sandy. Following the hurricane, the staff was unable to serve for around three months in the usual way. The staff also tried to have a balance between the services and the responsibilities of the hospital staff. The concerns and the needs of the staff were also addressed.
Following hurricane sandy, the staff and the professionals have combat a number of barriers that create trouble in their services. The finding shows that transportation was one of the big issues which make trouble for the employees to move effectively. Due to the closure of roads and the places that were under the water it was very difficult for the staff to move in different directions (Morris, 2016). Public transport was almost shut down and there was an availability of transport for the patients. The personal staff of the hospital had tried for an effective response but transportation issues had created a number of issues for them. It was difficult for many to reach the workplace. In the same way, many members of the hospital staff did not come to the hospital for performing their duties due to personal loss.
The damage to the personal property and the wiping out of the homes were very serious losses to the professionals of the hospital. The emergency chief received a number of calls which were about the shortage of hospital staff. The problem of communication also troubled the staff’s ineffective response to the hurricane. The conveying of the messages and the emails that were meant for alerting to different medical centers were disrupted. However other than the issues and problems of the staff some of them have very emotionally and effectively responded to the crises (Ricci, 2016).
The professional services of available staff show that they have a strong sense of their duty. One of the senior managers shared that “those staff that was also victims of the hurricane, had multiple responsibilities to help others or save his own damage”. The professionals of the hospital staff have made efforts to balance between their responsibilities and their services. One of the staff members told that “we have fewer employees who were tackling with both the responsibilities and the damage they had after the disastrous hurricane”.
Discussion:
The examination of the study shows that hospital management and the professional staff have genuine issues and concerns in responding to the natural disaster of the hurricane. A number of factors have influenced the services and duties of employees. During the post-disaster response and the time of early recovery the efforts were impacted by the staff’s own challenges and crises (Dillon, 2016). The personal property damage, communication hindrance, and the non-availability of the staff due to the personal loss were the most severe for the management and professionals of the hospital. The establishment of the disaster and risk response force can fill the gap for future natural disasters. The emergency unit in the hospital always is there to counter any possible disaster. The record or the data of each employee of the caring center must be organized to reach them during the time of crisis.
Superstorm Sandy was one of the most destructive natural disasters for the Americans. The massive floods have led to the closure of different hospitals. The Manhattan campus of New York health care system evacuate its medical center in advance of the storm. They discharge and transfer a number of patients to the neighborhood because of the heavy flood. The managers of the US Department of Veterans Affairs and the health care system unfolded the distorting situation and their concerns over the lapses in the system. The healthcare center was closed for a few months after the disastrous flood. The study shows that at the time of disaster the concerns of the hospital staff and the professionals must be considered in order to provide immediate facilities to the admitted patients.
Recommendations for Future Research:
There is a number of limitations and restriction to this study. For future research, the study must be conducted through the proper findings that incorporate all the members of VA management. It will help the researcher in composing comprehensive data and analysis. The future study must be comprised of views of other faculties and from different regions (Morris, 2016). It will enlarge the view and the knowledge of the researcher along with the different new strategies to cope with the disasters. In the same way, future research must include the other types of disasters either artificial or natural.
Conclusion
In concluding the discussion it is important to realize that an increasing number of disasters are forthcoming because of the rapid change in the environment. Weather-related disasters are dramatically increasing and there is a need for an effective response along with the proper strategy. Issues and problems of the hospital staff from a management perspective were examined in the study. The proactive response to the concerns and the fulfillment of the needs of hospital staff can help them in responding the natural disasters like hurricane sandy.
References
Dillon, P. J. (2016). Campus emergency management: identifying opportunities to enhance communication effectiveness before, during, & after a crisis.
Dobalian, A., Claver, M., Riopelle, D., Wyte-Lake, T., & Canelo, I. (2017). The Development of a Veterans Health Administration Emergency Management Research Agenda. PLoS Currents, 9.
Morris, A. M., Ricci, K. A., Griffin, A. R., Heslin, K. C., & Dobalian, A. (2016). Personal and professional challenges confronted by hospital staff following hurricane sandy: a qualitative assessment of management perspectives. BMC emergency medicine, 16(1), 18.
Ricci, K. (2016). Personal and professional challenges confronted by hospital staff following hurricane sandy: a qualitative assessment of management perspectives.
Vick, D. J. (2017). Assessment of Community Hospital Disaster Preparedness in New York State (Doctoral dissertation, Central Michigan University).
