New Sentinel Event Alert: Preparing healthcare organizations for environmental disasters
Climate change has exponentially increased the number of weather and climate-related disasters since 1980. The United States has experienced 396 weather and climate disasters in that timeframe, resulting in a cost of over $2.78 trillion. Increasing disasters have also caused more deaths due to natural disasters, with 2,101 fatalities occurring in the United States since January 2020 (National Centers for Environmental Information).
Whenever a disaster occurs, healthcare organizations must rapidly evacuate or shelter in place everyone on-site — patients, healthcare workers and others.
To support healthcare organizations in implementing proactive risk management strategies, The Joint Commission has issued Sentinel Event Alert, “Environmental disasters: Preparing to safely evacuate or shelter in place.” This alert outlines steps for healthcare organizations to consider as they prepare for weather and climate-related disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, floods and extreme heat.