CHAA Patient Safety and Emergency Preparedness 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is the role of patient access during a hospital-wide disaster or mass casualty event?
- Evacuate and wait for normal operations
- Activate surge registration protocols, implement rapid triage-based registration, and coordinate patient tracking (Correct answer)
- Continue normal procedures
- Reassign to clinical duties
Correct answer: Activate surge registration protocols, implement rapid triage-based registration, and coordinate patient tracking
Patient access plays a critical role in disaster response with rapid registration and patient tracking protocols.
During mass casualty events, patient access activates HICS registration including abbreviated registration using triage tags, rapid patient tracking, coordination with external agencies, family reunification systems, surge capacity registration, and documentation supporting later claims and reimbursement.
Question 2: How does patient access contribute to fall prevention?
- No role in fall prevention
- By identifying fall risk factors during registration and communicating to clinical staff (Correct answer)
- By mopping floors
- By providing comfortable seating only
Correct answer: By identifying fall risk factors during registration and communicating to clinical staff
Patient access can screen for fall risk factors during registration and ensure clinical staff are informed.
Patient access contributes through screening questions about mobility limitations, assistive device use, recent falls, and medications; flagging accounts for clinical assessment; ensuring wheelchair availability; maintaining safe registration areas; and communicating observations to clinical staff.
Question 3: What is the purpose of the hospital 'Code' system, and how should patient access staff respond?
- Codes are only for clinical staff
- Codes are standardized emergency alerts requiring all staff to know their specific role in each response (Correct answer)
- Codes page specific physicians
- Codes are optional
Correct answer: Codes are standardized emergency alerts requiring all staff to know their specific role in each response
Emergency codes require all staff including patient access to understand and respond per their designated role.
Common codes include Code Blue (cardiac arrest), Code Red (fire), Code Silver (active threat), Code Pink (infant abduction), Code Yellow (bomb threat), and Code Orange (hazmat/disaster). Patient access duties may include lockdown procedures, evacuating patients, securing infant access points, and communication support.
Question 4: A patient at registration shows signs of a possible stroke. What should the representative do?
- Complete registration first
- Immediately alert clinical staff or activate the stroke response protocol, then complete registration after emergency evaluation (Correct answer)
- Ask detailed questions about symptoms
- Register and place in the waiting area
Correct answer: Immediately alert clinical staff or activate the stroke response protocol, then complete registration after emergency evaluation
Stroke is a time-critical emergency where clinical evaluation must take immediate priority over registration.
Patient access staff should recognize stroke signs using BE-FAST (Balance, Eyes, Face, Arms, Speech, Time). When observed, immediately alert clinical staff, provide basic identifiers verbally for initial care, and begin abbreviated registration while the patient is being evaluated. Registration must never delay care for time-sensitive conditions.
Question 5: What is patient access's role in infection prevention?
- No responsibility
- Screening for symptoms and exposures, enforcing masking protocols, maintaining clean areas, and isolating symptomatic patients (Correct answer)
- Only providing hand sanitizer
- Exclusively nursing responsibility
Correct answer: Screening for symptoms and exposures, enforcing masking protocols, maintaining clean areas, and isolating symptomatic patients
As the first point of contact, patient access plays a crucial role in infection screening and prevention.
Patient access responsibilities include administering symptom screening questionnaires, directing symptomatic patients to isolation areas, maintaining distance protocols and barrier protection, keeping registration areas disinfected, and notifying clinical staff of potentially infectious patients.
Question 6: What is the Safe Haven or Safe Surrender law, and how does it affect patient access?
- Protects hospitals from lawsuits
- Allows parents to anonymously surrender newborns at hospitals without criminal prosecution, requiring specific registration and notification protocols (Correct answer)
- A parking safety law
- Only applies to fire stations
Correct answer: Allows parents to anonymously surrender newborns at hospitals without criminal prosecution, requiring specific registration and notification protocols
Safe Haven laws protect parents who surrender newborns and require healthcare facilities to accept and care for them.
Safe Haven laws exist in all 50 states. Patient access must accept the infant without requiring parent identification, create a medical record, notify clinical staff, contact child protective services as required, and document the surrender per organizational policy.
CHAA Patient Safety and Emergency Preparedness 2
What is the role of patient access during a hospital-wide disaster or mass casualty event?