Mass Casualty Care: Overlooked Community Resources

Slide Presentation by Lucy A Savitz, Ph.D., M.B.A.

On May 17, 2005, Dr. Savitz made a presentation in a Web conference entitled Mass Casualty Care: Overlooked Community Resources: Exploring the Special Needs and Potential Role of Nursing Homes in Surge Capacity.

This is the text version of Dr. Savitz's slide presentation. Select to access the PowerPoint® Slides (260 KB).

Exploring the Special Needs and Potential Role of Nursing Homes in Surge Capacity

Lucy A Savitz, Ph.D., M.B.A.
Senior Health Research Analyst
Quality, Outcomes and Safety Research Program
Research Triangle Institute
Research Triangle Park, NC
E-mail savitz@rti.org

Slide 1

Why Consider Nursing Homes?

• Previous focus has been on hospital and first responder preparedness
• Elderly population is particularly vulnerable in times of disaster
• Inclusion of nursing homes in preparedness planning is unknown

Slide 2

Key Issues to Study in Nursing Homes

• Disaster plan preparation and training
• Special needs
• Patient flows
• Rural areas
• State regulations

Slide 3

How Can We Explore These Issues? Two-stage, Exploratory Study

1. 1. Qualitative Case: Studies in 6 States
   Focus groups
   • Comments on survey tool
   • In-depth discussions
   • Review of documents
2. 2. Atlas
   • Comparative facility and rural-urban continuum data for 50 States
   • Drill down for 6 States, comparing data for relevant planning areas

Slide 4

Case Study States with RTI IDSRN Partners

• Utah: Intermountain Health Care (IHC)
• California, Oregon, Washington: Providence Health System
• North Carolina: UNC Health Care
• Pennsylvania: UPMC Health System

Slide 5

Preliminary Findings

Nursing Homes have:

• Natural disaster plans in place
• Not been included in preparedness planning
• Special needs
• Potential to offer surge capacity extensions

Slide 6

Atlas

A map of North Carolina, with counties delineated, is titled Hospital and Nursing Home Capacity and Population Living in an Urban Area. Areas are color coded to indicate ranges of percentages living in urban areas. Icons indicate ranges of numbers of hospital beds and numbers of SNF or NF beds. There is also one mark for the UNC Hospital. Dark lines divide HRSA BT planning regions.

Slide 7

Two maps of North Carolina are shown. The upper map is titled Emergency Medical Services, EMS, Regions. The lower map is titled Emergency Management, EM, Regions. The 12 EMS regions and the 15 EM regions are colored and numbered for distinction. A crosshatch pattern on some counties indicates MMRS. Dark lines divide HRSA BT planning regions.

Slide 8

A map of North Carolina is titled Relative Nursing Home versus Hospital Location by County. Counties are colored according to facility type: nursing home, no hospital; nursing home, non-tertiary care hospital; nursing home tertiary care hospital; no nursing home, non-tertiary care hospital; or no nursing home, no hospital. Hospitals are marked, and the UNC Hospital is distinguished.

Slide 9

Opportunities to Enhance Preparedness

• Planning and resource decisions
• Nursing home administrators
• Special needs and contributions
• Update disaster plans
• Targeted training for staff

Current as of September 2005

Internet Citation:

Mass Casualty Care: Overlooked Community Resources. Text version of a slide presentation at a Web-assisted Audioconference. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/news/ulp/massresources/XXXXXXXtxt.htm

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