When emergency strikes, what's more important than the ability to communicate effectively with all members of the response team — in and outside of your hospital?
The American Hospital Association's Center for Innovation sought to bridge gaps in collaborative emergency response between healthcare systems and the professionals who work in them, first responders and public health officials. The CLEAR Field Guide for Emergency Preparedness, an effort of CLEAR (Convening Leaders for Emergency and Response), breaks down silos and evolving emergency management protocols. Download the guide, published in the fall of 2022, here.
"The nation's public health and health care infrastructure must be designed to assess, respond to and manage threats to public health before they occur," according to CLEAR. "The question remains, 'How does the collective field of community health advocates get there, together?' The CLEAR Field Guide seeks to answer this."
Four objectives that healthcare leaders and employees should follow are outlined in the guide, along with "tangible strategies, real-world examples, resources and action steps to take to effectively prepare for, respond to and recover from the next crisis."
The guide includes best practice protocols for strengthening cross-sector partnerships, building workforce capacity and resilience, ways to encourage the sharing of information — while managing misinformation — and normalizing a culture of preparedness.