OR Manager July 2022 - 26

Disaster Response
Continued from page 25
pitals are at the same time faced with
a surge of patients seeking emergency
services and may be themselves restricted
in their capacity due to weather
conditions, lack of supplies, or shortage
of beds. And studies have found that
patients remain in hospitals longer following
a post-casualty event.
When Hurricane Sandy hit the Northeast
in 2012, some hospitals were left
in chaos. " It didn't really occur to me
that
the hospital was going to be in
trouble, " Robert Berg, MD, an obstetrician
at NYU Langone Medical Center,
told the local news affiliate. " I thought,
'We'll have power upstairs. We're an
operating room.' " Instead, he found
himself assisting with carrying patients
downstairs on med sleds. In all, 300
patients had to be evacuated, including
to neighboring states. Outdated building
design and poor flood management had
shut down their backup generators.
The ability to quickly transfer patients-including
those recovering from
surgery-and their records to nearby
facilities is crucial, experts say.
It requires a healthcare
coalition, or " a
group of state, local,
and hospital-based administrators
working together
to think critically
about preparedness
and what they can do to
pool resources in a time
of disaster, " says Sue
Sue Anne Bell,
PhD, MSN,
FNP-BC
Anne Bell, PhD, MSN, FNP-BC, a clinical
associate professor of nursing at
University of Michigan who specializes
in disaster preparedness. She notes
that Michigan, for instance, has " a clear
plan to share access to ventilators. "
Reevaluating the supply chain
When the COVID-19 pandemic swept
across the United States in 2020, hospital
systems were again overwhelmed.
In particular, the pandemic exposed
26
OR Manager | July 2022
the vulnerabilities in the nation's supply
chain, with many doctors and nurses
running low on critical personal protective
equipment (PPE) like N-95 masks
and gloves.
With COVID-19 also came an increased
possibility of infection in operating
rooms and the need for hospitals
to respond by limiting elective
surgeries. The Anesthesia Patient
Safety Foundation advocates the use of
particular care during administration of
anesthesia when there's a high risk of
exposure to respiratory droplets. Other
agencies recommend greater use of
telehealth and technology to prevent
unnecessary traffic in and around the
operating room and to conserve essential
PPE. Colorado orthopedic surgeon
Philip Stahel, MD, made a chart risk
stratifying when to proceed with elective
surgery during the pandemic.
Now, hospitals are not just reevaluating
their OR procedures but also their
supply chains in response to the pandemic,
recognizing that they need to
move away from sole-source contracts,
says Timothy Browne, executive director
of supply chain services at ECRI.
" Organizations are making their processes
more resilient to sustain and
navigate through natural disasters, "
says Browne. " They have more inventory
on hand and multiple alternatives
for every product, so they can pivot
quickly. "
Sole-source contracts-one vendor,
one product-are not as common as
they were pre-pandemic, he says, adding
that before the pandemic, many
healthcare systems also operated on a
lean model, with just 30 days of backup
PPE. Now, he says, many have shifted
to keeping 120 days' supply on hand.
Support for domestic suppliers
and innovators
On the federal level, there has been a
major push to support more domestic
suppliers to prevent the sorts of supply
chain breakdowns and counterfeit products
that happened during the COVID19
pandemic.
During BARDA Industry
Day in December
2021, Dawn O'Connell,
assistant secretary for
preparedness and response,
spoke as part
of a fireside chat on
securing the supply
Dawn
O'Connell
chain about the need for assurance
around domestic manufacturing capabilities.
" When the whole world needed
the same thing at the same time last
spring, we saw how difficult it was for
our healthcare responders to access
the [PPE] they needed and many of the
other medical supplies, " O'Connell said.
That, she said, has pushed the organization
to take a number of steps, including
investing in domestic manufacturing,
restocking the Strategic National
Stockpile with domestic manufactured
goods, and ensuring that adequate supplies
are coming from numerous domestic
manufacturers that " can provide
what we need when we need it next. "
Part of this effort means embracing
innovation and entrepreneurship.
" Crisis drives innovation, "
says Andy Poole,
business solutions manager
for ECRI. Where
healthcare systems initially
operated with limited
supplies and sole
suppliers, they are now
Andy Poole
getting involved in manufacturing and
partnering with distributors.
For more OR Manager stories on disaster preparedness, visit the disaster
preparedness series at https://www.ormanager.com/long-form-stories/
disaster-preparedness-series/
www.ormanager.com
https://www.ormanager.com/long-form-stories/disaster-preparedness-series/ http://www.ormanager.com
OR Manager July 2022

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