Practice Management Committee
Overcrowding LAC-USC surge Plan
The Surge Plan (Download pdf)SUBJECT:
The LAC+USC Medical Center Healthcare Surge Plan.
DEPARTMENTS:
Hospital wide.
PURPOSE:
To establish a system-wide approach to healthcare surge response capability in order to effectively and appropriately accommodate patient needs, manage healthcare emergencies, and mitigate disasters.
POLICY:
The plan provides a methodology to maximize healthcare capabilities in response to patient influx by encompassing a continuity of operations from open hospital status, to full capacity, to overcrowding, and to surge capacity. The plan is not an emergency operations plan. It is a daily operational plan, elements of which are an integral part of the overall emergency operation plan. The plan will utilize an objective measure of Emergency Department and Hospital Overcrowding that will automatically dictate a network response. This utility is designed for rapid notification and plan implementation No further administrative approval will be required since, as a Network Policy, the approval is inherent. The plan incorporates new and existing operational policies and procedures to provide a cogent and complete reference tool. It references and abides by existing regulations, standards, and guidelines for healthcare surge and emergency (disaster) preparedness. The plan provides mandatory response guidelines that are to be adhered to by all referenced individuals and departments involved in the response. The plan is not static but dynamic. It designed to be updated, improved, and refined to best maximize the delivery of patient care through all levels of patient surge and fluxing hospital capacity.
CAL/ACEP President
Andrea Brault, M.D.
