I've just begun this Pulitzer Prize-wining nonfiction account of Memorial Hospital in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.
It's already easy to see that the health professionals inside the hospital went from feeling confident about their ability to ride out the storm to being frightened and stressed by the heat and other factors due to the loss of electricity for several days.
It seems that there are some obvious policy recommendations. Hospital generators need to be reliable for at least four days rather than hours. Hospitals need to designate on-site decision makers, and need to prepare them for making major administrative decisions if they are not hospital administrators. Perhaps hospital administrators should be required to remain on-site during hurricanes and other storms than can remove electricity, and should be required to try to get to the hospital if the electricity goes out.
It's already easy to see that the health professionals inside the hospital went from feeling confident about their ability to ride out the storm to being frightened and stressed by the heat and other factors due to the loss of electricity for several days.
It seems that there are some obvious policy recommendations. Hospital generators need to be reliable for at least four days rather than hours. Hospitals need to designate on-site decision makers, and need to prepare them for making major administrative decisions if they are not hospital administrators. Perhaps hospital administrators should be required to remain on-site during hurricanes and other storms than can remove electricity, and should be required to try to get to the hospital if the electricity goes out.
No comments:
Post a Comment