Be prepared: Complete your department’s emergency preparedness exercises this month

As part of Joint Commission requirements, staff in freestanding buildings within the U-M Hospitals and Health Center, including clinics and office buildings, need to conduct at least one emergency preparedness exercise each year.

UMHHC has designated April as Off-site Exercise Month as a reminder to complete your exercises.

If you are a manager of a department or unit in a freestanding building, you must complete an exercise. You will need to select a scenario that will test the ability of your staff to respond to a specific emergency. Examples include severe weather, power outages, telephone outages, Code Silver, floods, bomb threats and chemical spills.

If you are a manager of a department or unit within a building attached to the main medical campus, you are not required to complete an exercise at this time. These buildings include: Cancer Center, Med Inn Building, Cardiovascular Center, University Hospital, C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital and Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospital, and the Taubman Center.  Although you are not required to complete an exercise, you are always encouraged to conduct exercises within your area to assess the readiness of your staff.

Remember, if you experienced an actual emergency during the year such as severe weather, power outage or phone outage, that emergency would qualify as your yearly exercise requirement, as long as the emergency was reported using the Disaster Critique Form.

Exercises must be critiqued using the Disaster Critique Form in order for your area to received credit.  https://uhintwebspr1.mcit.med.umich.edu/hos/safety/emcritique/critique.cfm

To learn more, visit: http://www.med.umich.edu/i/Safety/EmergencyPreparedness/ExercisesTraining/Exercises.shtml

Please contact Carrie Wright with any questions at carrieg@med.umich.edu.