Facilities like Atlanta, Georgia-based Grady Memorial Hospital are taking extra
precautions, including leveraging technology for emergency healthcare
management, in anticipation of a H1N1 surge this fall.
Like many hospitals, Grady found the wave of H1N1 cases in the springmanageable. “The number of ER visits we had were minimal – maybe eight a month,”said Charlotte S. Clark, CHSP, CHEC-III, emergency management manager. As aregional coordinating hospital (RCH), Grady was also charged with distributingTamiflu antiviral flu medicine. “As a RCH however, we were heavily impacted bythe first wave since the CDC shipped Tamiflu directly to us to roll out to theother participating health care organizations in our region,” she added.
During the spring H1N1 wave, Clark and her team used a web-based emergencypreparedness and incident management platform to communicate with hospitalsunder its regional charge. The communication tool in the platform, developed byVerona, NJ-based LiveProcess, is an “event log” that emergency managementprofessionals use to manage and share information.
To help Grady Memorial Hospital and other customers, LiveProcess mobilized anationwide H1N1 event log on October 1. The event log includes H1N1-related newsfrom local, federal and global agencies and gives users the ability to exchangeinformation such as current H1N1 status and available supplies and inventory.
Clark said she expects the LiveProcess event log will be an important tool inthe coming weeks, again using it to report bed availability across the region,keep tabs on patient surges and monitor supplies. “With LiveProcess, we canquickly access data and be able to edit and track as needed when loanedequipment goes out,” she said. “Plus, we can use the event log to arrange forthe pickup and delivery of needed supplies or equipment, and communicate viaphone, text or e-mail with key local and state health officials, all at the pushof a button.
“The bottom line is this: We are on the front lines of any health care crisis,”Clark said. “Having the ability to communicate and exchange information in atimely, effective and accurate way is critical to our mission of meeting this orany other large-scale situation head-on. It`s what we do best.”
LiveProcess previously participated in the largest U.S. pandemic flu exercise inhistory with 190 facilities of the Georgia Hospital Association and the Centerfor Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
For additional information, click here.
LiveProcess October 2009 press release.
