Tools and Resources
The Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Disaster Medicine has developed a range of tools and resources to assist preparedness professionals in planning for emergencies.
The resources listed below are intended for use by hospitals, public health departments and other responders.
NEW: 2019 Novel Coronavirus Toolkit
This toolkit is designed to assist health care organizations in their planning and response to the current novel coronavirus event. It is based on plans and resources developed within our hospitals and is meant to be helpful to other hospitals addressing similar issues and challenges. Hospitals are encouraged to review the materials and adapt them to their local context and health department regulations and procedures. Hospitals are also strongly encouraged to closely monitor guidance from their state health departments and the CDC, since information is likely to continue to change as the outbreak evolves.
SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Toolkit (PDF)
The content of these materials is designed to comply with current public health guidance, but it does not supersede or replace guidance from federal and state public health authorities.
Hospital-Based Decontamination Resources
Hospitals must plan for the arrival of potentially contaminated patients following hazardous materials events, be able to limit the extent of collateral exposure from the presentation of a contaminated patient or patients, and be able to safely provide initial triage and care for arriving victims.
Each document can be used to facilitate improvement and is provided as an individual PDF. However, the resources are most effective when used in combination, accessible here.
View Individual Documents
Proposed Decontamination Capabilities for Hospitals
The purpose of this document is to suggest common capabilities that all hospitals in Massachusetts should target in their provision of care to patients who may present to their facilities after contamination with hazardous substances.
Hospital Decontamination Self-Assessment Tool
This document was developed to provide a structured critique that hospitals may use when evaluating their decontamination plans and capabilities considering current regulatory standards, recommendations from subject matter experts, and national and international best practices.
Strategies for First Receiver Decontamination
This is a collection of tactics and scalable considerations intended to assist hospitals facing common challenges planning for hospital based decontamination of patients.
Hospital Evacuation Resources
Although rarely required, both full and partial hospital evacuations are extremely complicated and potentially dangerous events. Careful and detailed planning that supports orderly and safe evacuation operations under a wide array of conditions must be included in any hospital emergency operations plan.
Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) Hospital Evacuation Toolkit
This toolkit is a comprehensive guide that hospitals can use to prepare for and execute a hospital evacuation.
Family Reunification Resources
Children who are separated from families are extremely vulnerable and are at risk for significant physical and mental trauma, neglect, abuse, and even exploitation. Therefore, it is important to return these children to the care of their custodial caregivers as quickly as possible.
This planning tool, developed in Partnership with the American Academy of Pediatrics, is meant to provide planning assistance for hospitals as they review and update their plans to provide information, support services, and safe reunification assistance to family members of patients who have experienced disasters.
Hospital Recovery Resources
The process by which a hospital minimizes the impact an emergency has made on its operations is a critical part of emergency planning. Developing hospital recovery capabilities will strengthen a hospital's ability to quickly respond to and recover from any emergency.
Essential Functions and Considerations of Hospital Recovery
This document was written for hospitals and is intended to serve as a resource for hospitals to use as they prepare to manage their recovery from emergencies of all types, intended to complement the ongoing efforts of federal, state, and local agencies that are similarly committed to enhancing healthcare recovery capabilities.
Monkeypox Planning Toolkit
This toolkit is designed to assist healthcare facilities in their planning and response to suspected or confirmed patients infected with the monkeypox virus. Hospitals are encouraged to review the material and adapt to their local context and health department regulations and procedures.
Unplanned IT Downtime Resources
Health care’s increasing reliance on IT is not limited to support of direct patient care activities, but commonly now extends to nearly every aspect of daily operations. Because of the potential impact on hospital operations, unplanned IT downtime events can be just as serious a threat to patient safety as a power outage or medical gas failure.
As technology becomes an ever-more essential component of the delivery of modern medical care, healthcare entities must ensure that they have extremely robust and well-conceived operational plans in place to be able to identify the full extent and consequences of any outage as rapidly as possible. This toolkit is designed to assist hospitals and other healthcare organizations with improving their readiness for unplanned IT downtime events.
Other Preparedness Resources
Developed by the Harvard School of Public Health Emergency Preparedness Research, Evaluation and Practice Program, this toolkit is an online resource to help you develop exercise evaluation forms for your disaster exercise.