Safety

Benefits of a continuity of operations program

Hospital Safety Insider, September 11, 2014

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Integrating a continuity of operations (COOP) program into a healthcare environment can overwhelm the most experienced manager. Few healthcare-specific COOP resources are readily available to assist healthcare facilities with integrating COOP into daily operations. Children's Hospital Colorado conducted extensive research into COOP and customized a program tailored to its needs. The program takes advantage of internal processes and the expertise of its managers, allowing COOP integration to the modality level.

For example, Linda Wright, director of radiology at Children's Colorado, requested nine plans divided into CT, MRI, diagnostic imaging, file room/data center, front desk/scheduling, interventional, nuclear medicine, nursing, and ultrasound. This means that Wright now has the ability to assess the operational impact of a single, multiple, or complete department interruption.

Where many healthcare institutions have opted to create one COOP plan, Children's Colorado is creating multiple COOP plans tailored to the operational needs of the department. The approach provides Children's Colorado with an operational advantage by reducing organizational risk and improved efficiency.

This is an excerpt from a guest column in the September issue of Briefings on Hospital Safety. Visit here to log in or subscribe.

 



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