Describe the similarities, differences, and challenges between how a school/university responds and prepares for a major event/pandemic and how a hospital prepares and responds.

ANSWER

Literature Review Comparing/Contrasting Preparedness and Pandemic Response of Two Organizations

Preparedness and response strategies and practices to major events such as natural disasters, emergencies, and pandemics should be developed at the individual, community, national, and global levels. The entire world, from the global to the individual level, is affected by the COVID-19 pandemic currently. This pandemic has affected people’s economic and financial status, seen businesses and schools closed and virtual normalcy created, and an influx of patients in hospitals, resulting in limited quality healthcare access, deaths, and recoveries. The focal organizations in this essay are hospitals and schools/universities. The paper establishes the differences, similarities, and challenges these organizations face as they prepare and respond to a pandemic.

The similarities established in the preparedness and response of pandemic in schools and hospitals include similar guiding objectives, which is ensuring effective management, containment, and limitation of the spread of the virus and related deaths. In a Pandemic Response Plan developed for Suffolk Public Schools, a priority objective is ensuring the number of people affected, including all faculties, staff, and students, remains small regarding the spread, infection, and deaths (Rice, 2020). Similarly, a top priority among individuals and groups of hospitals is limiting the spread of a virus, including protecting healthcare workers, ensuring they are strong and healthy to take care of infected patients, protecting patients not affected by the virus, and ensuring the hospital does not amplify the virus (Toner & Waldhorn, 2020). In these two plans, the similarity in adopting mitigation strategies that limit the spread of the virus is identified.

A significant difference in the preparedness and response between schools and hospitals is in the strategy adopted: schools respond by closing learning institutions while hospitals respond by remaining open and maximizing their capacity to attend and provide quality care and treatment to infected persons. This COVID-19 pandemic can attest to this argument. Governments have given directives on the closure of all schools, the physical attendance to minimize public gathering, physical-social contact, and interactions, ways that facilitate the quick spread of the virus. With school closure and students self-isolated, learning continues virtually (Rice, 2020). However, in hospitals, active and physical interaction is mandatory with protective gear to provide care and treat patients, both infected and those not infected. The pandemic directly affects the operation of hospitals as it compromises public health. A virtual treatment is minimally advised, only happens when necessary, but all healthcare workers are expected to be physically present (Toner & Waldhorn, 2020).

Challenges faced in the preparedness and response to pandemics in hospitals include limited resources to cater for all patients, resulting in prioritization difficulties, which taps into ethical dilemmas that make health practitioners susceptible to malpractices and ethical, legal repercussions. Moreover, without adequate protective gear and resources for healthcare workers, they are exposed to infections, resulting in an unprotected workforce (Toner & Waldhorn, 2020). An unprotected workforce can facilitate hospital-acquired infections, transmissions from doctors to patients, and vice versa. Eventually, instead of the hospital being a recovery area, it amplifies the spread of the disease and deaths. In schools, a significant challenge is experienced in facilitating effective learning virtually. Some students lack access to stable internet and digital learning devices. This results in some students missing classes, skipping semesters, and overly, the quality of online learning is highly questioned (CDC, 2020).

Schools and hospitals developed different preparedness and response strategies due to the different mandates and purposes they serve. However, the whole community involving organizations (business and healthcare), individuals, community members, and families must ensure that preparedness and response strategies adopted effectively prevent the occurrence, minimize the effects, and mitigate or remedy the disruptive after consequences.

References

CDC. (2020, March 19). CDC Data on Schools’ Response to Pandemics: Planning for Both Dangers and Opportunities. Retrieved from https://www.nsba.org/Perspectives/2020/school-response-pandemic

Rice, S. (2020). Pandemic Response Plan. https://www.spsk12.net/UserFiles/Servers/Server_285949/File/Departments/Student%20Health/Pandemic%20Response%20Plan%202020.pdf: Suffolk Public Schools.

Toner, E., & Waldhorn, R. (2020). What US Hospitals Should Do Now to Prepare for a COVID-19 Pandemic. Clinicians’ Biosecurity News, https://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/cbn/2020/cbnreport-02272020.html.