Hospital Disaster Drill

The previous night at around 1 am I volunteered to be flexed at work because I will have a disaster drill with my handled batch at Centinela Hospital Medical Center the next day.

When I got out of the hospital it was nippy outside and the whole downtown Los Angeles, where my hospital was located, was been blanketed by a very thick fog. It is now reminiscent of the coming of Fall and Winter season. Oooh... how I love those two seasons.

I got out of the hospital's parking lot and continued to drive unto north Pasadena Freeway till I converged with north Hollywood freeway. As I was driving home, I cannot see the road from afar, as in zero visibility, so I just drove real slow and very carefully. Good thing I arrived home safely.

But before going home, I felt extremely hungry so I passed by at my favorite 24-hour deli which is the Canter's Deli in Fairfax Avenue and bought my favorite pastrami-corned beef sandwich.

When I got home I changed my scrubs and put on my pj's, ate my food, and watched a little bit of television news.Then after an hour I went to sleep in preparation for the very busy and big day today.

At around 8 am I woke up then had a warm shower and changed for my casual clothes. I then left my apartment forty minutes after and then drove to Inglewood, CA going straight to Centinela Hospital Medical Center to meet Batch 9 for the hospital's disaster drill.

When I arrived there at 9:15 am some of my students were already there so I immediately told them to proceed to the Ira Kaufman conference room and wait for me there, while I went to meet Claudia Marroquin-Frometa, the program director of today's drill and get some last minute instructions.

Thirty minutes after, the conference room was full of student nurses from my school and two other nursing schools. My school send two batches, Batch 9 and 10, to participate for the drill.

Then Claudia meet the students and gave them last minute instructions. The hospital's Chief Medical Officer Dr. Patel, also met and thank the students for participating for the annual hospital disaster drill.

The drill was about "Earthquake Preparedness", so we were told that the nurses were being briefed about what to do if earthquake strikes California and the hospital and today they will practice on what to do for themselves and the hospital's patient.

After the meet-and-greet, the students were instructed to go up to 7th East and were given a yellow tags indicating their ambulatory status and their little baggies for their belongings and pretended medication. The students were acting like patients for this simulation drill and were being identified whether they are ambulatory or non-ambulatory.

At exactly 11 am, the hospital's overhead call system announces the drill and gave instructions for the drill participants on what to do in case there is an earthquake.

I also joined the drill as a volunteer instructor and had also helped in separating the students whether they can walk or cannot. And distributing their pretend medications and placed it into their baggies.

We then waited for the nurse volunteers and the firefighters to bring the ambulatory first down the first floor walking through the stairs then placed the non-ambulatory on the carrier and carried them down to the first floor until they are being sorted to received proper care and treatment at the hospital's disaster command post.

Overall, the drill was a success with some minor problems and delays in communication.

After the drill, the students were being gathered at the Gazebo Room in the cafeteria and were explained to evaluate the drill. Some students were very excited about the event and they made a lot of comments about its success. They also told me that they have learned a lot from today's simulation drill and that they now know what to do during an earthquake if they happen to be stucked in the hospital if they work in the future.

After the evaluation, lunch was served courtesy of the hospital management. Boxes of sandwiches and sodas were distributed to the students in gratitude of their participation for today's very successful hospital disaster drill.

I was so thankful that the student's learned a lot from this simulation experience, and hopefully they will apply it if ever they come across to the same situation in the near future.

Preparation is the best thing to prevent chaos. And today's disaster drill will sure help the hospital staff as well as my students on what to do if ever things like this happens in the near future.

Congratulations to all the students and thank you for your unselfish participation in this hospital drill.