In December 2005, The Joint Commission and its affiliate Joint Commission Resources released of a free web-based publication, Surge Hospitals: Providing Safe Care in Emergencies.
Surge hospitals are designed to assist the community in absorbing an overwhelming number of patients seeking care during emergencies, such as mass-casualty events or infectious disease outbreaks. Surge hospitals provide care when permanent facilities exhaust their capacity or cannot operate because of damage or other conditions.
In May and October 2004, The Joint Commission convened a roundtable to address problems in coordinated community planning for disasters, particularly as they affect small, rural and suburban communities which may have to support themselves for several days following significant natural or man-made emergencies. The product of this roundtable is the guidance document, "Standing Together: An Emergency Planning Guide for America's Communities," for communities to both prepare for and successfully respond to major local and regional emergencies – whether they be hurricanes, floods, terrorist attacks, major infectious outbreaks, hazardous materials spills, or other catastrophic occurrences.
This roundtable was an outgrowth of a series of previous initiatives addressing related themes in emergency preparedness. In December 2001, The Joint Commission held a roundtable to address the emergency preparedness challenges being posed by actual and anticipated terrorist activities; a follow-up roundtable was held in July 2002. A national symposium, Homeland Defense: Blueprints for Emergency Management Responses, was held in October 2002. The white paper, "Health Care at the Crossroads: Strategies for Creating and Sustaining Community-wide Emergency Preparedness Systems," published in March 2003, and is available on the Joint Commission website.
- Emergency Preparedness Competencies*: a guide to the core skills and abilities every hospital worker and every hospital leader should have to assure an effective response to emergencies.
*The competencies were developed by Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and School of Nursing) in collaboration with the Greater New York Hospital Association, supported by the Commonwealth Fund.