Emergency Preparedness Regarding Healthcare Informatics

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In the present day, the health care system has become highly dependent on information technology (IT), and a growing number of activities within medical facilities are not performed without it. At the same time, particular attention should be paid to data safety and accessibility, especially in the case of natural and manmade disasters. As a serious disruption, a disaster leads to the unplanned interruption of the main components of the health IT infrastructure and results in the breakdown of facilities’ performance. Moreover, a loss of patient data may be regarded as the most devastating consequence for healthcare informatics systems. From personal experience, I know that when data is unprotected, it cannot be retrieved.

A hurricane is one of the most dangerous natural disasters that may occur in multiple regions across the country. A storm characterized by extremely strong winds may cause massive destruction and flooding. In my practice, I experienced a situation when the storm surge cut all communication channels and made a hospital completely offline. In addition, a facility’s basement with laundry, food services, and fire alarm, heating, and electrical systems may be flooded. As a result, both hardware and software of health IT infrastructure will be damaged, making patient data inaccessible.

There are several methods of saving data for retrieval after a hurricane that may be applied. The use of cloud storage and cloud-based HER systems may be regarded as the most reliable one, as data will be unattached to both hardware and software within clinical settings (Cohen, 2019). In this case, it will be available for healthcare providers from any device, even if a hospital is flooded. In addition, having several copies of essential information and keeping it in various media types and offsite is beneficial.

Another way of protecting data from loss due to a disaster is the use of health information exchange (HIE) and other aggregation services provided by third-party organizations. In this case, providers should be connected and linked to HIEs in advance before a potential disaster may occur (Arndt, 2018). Therefore, data will be protected, and patients will receive an opportunity to connect with clinicians and access their health information as well, even if HER systems are offline.

It goes without saying that disasters are strongly associated with considerable financial costs for medical facilities. The consequences of the hurricane, such as the destruction of constructions and the damage to communication systems and IT infrastructure’s hardware and software due to the storm and flooding, lead to substantial expenditures for repair and reconstruction. At the same time, the development and implementation of efficient disaster recovery are particularly necessary for the prevention of non-financial costs. When patient data is lost and cannot be retrieved, clinicians cannot provide quality healthcare delivery. It leads to negative patient outcomes, including chronic diseases, comorbidities, and even death. That is why it is possible to conclude that a disaster’s non-financial cost is more important than financial costs, as health recovery is a more complicated process.