My recommendation is to take the time to put together an operations manual that covers your entire Hospital Emergency Response Team (HERT) program. This will keep all the important and relevant material in one document. Topics should include:
- Standard operational procedures
- A copy of your hospital Hazard Vulnerability Analysis (HVA)
- Policies
- Reference material
- HERT position descriptions
- Diagrams
- Forms
- PPE selection charts
- Decontamination triage process
- Equipment and supply lists
In addition should be the application process for team members, the on-boarding, initial and refresher training for HERT members as well as the training curriculum and attendance sheets themselves.
Managing a patient contaminated with a hazardous substance is a high risk event and several things can go wrong. Consistency is one of your best forms of protection. Do things the same way time after time. If you do have a bad outcome, attorneys will want to see your documentation to see if you followed your policies, procedures and training. It is in everyone’s best interest and risk management should insist on a HERT Operation Manual being the foundation for your program.
How successful have you been at building a HERT operations manual at your facility?
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Jan – Great article and great series. All very good information. Your suggestion here for having detailed policy, plans, procedures, and job aids is excellent, and of course should be done for all major plan elements. This identifies the standards of practice for the organization, provides a foundation for training, and the basis for evaluation of exercises and incidents.
Excellent as always Jan! Short, concise, to the point, and hits all the relevant info. Thanks!
Great series