| It was recently reported that a hospital conducting an unannounced "terrorism training exercise". Apparently what happens in Nevada does not always stay in Nevada. Back at the end of this past May the hospital's Head's of Security, Emergency Management and the Environment of Care Committee elected to hold this drill without informing key personnel regarding the drill. It appears that in the past drill critiques indicated that the events were not realistic enough so the trio (with the best of intentions) decided to hold one that included an off duty police officer with a real (unloaded) gun as the role of the gunman. He went into the ICU unit and proceeded to direct staff at gunpoint to a break room. About five minutes into the drill the “gunmen” advised staff that it was a drill apparently, they were still not allowed to leave the break room for approximately ten more minutes. According to reports filed critically ill patients were left unattended for the fifteen minute span. Staff was in real fear for their lives and some employees broke into tears. Now according to a 15-page report from The Bureau of Health and Quality Compliance based on a reported compliant the facility must submit and Plan of Correction (POC) that must relate to the care of all patients to prevent such occurrences in the future. There were also several findings including that the facility “failed to carry out a comprehensive plan for emergency preparedness by failing to have a policy or procedure in place to plan, coordinate and conduct emergency and armed terrorist hostage drills at the facility to ensure the safety of the nursing units and provide for uninterrupted patient care and supervision”. As a result of this drill the Head of Security was terminated and the other two were reportedly suspended and removed from their positions. Even though this may have been well-intended to serve as a realistic situation, not advising or including senior leaders is usually not the best of ideas. |