CHSP Emergency Preparedness & Incident Management 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: During a hospital-wide emergency, the Incident Commander delegates patient care operations to the Operations Section Chief. This delegation is best described as which ICS principle?
- Unity of command
- Span of control
- Modular organization
- Delegation of authority (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Delegation of authority
Delegation of authority allows the Incident Commander to formally transfer specific responsibilities to subordinate section chiefs while retaining overall command.
Question 2: A hospital's Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) must be exercised at minimum how often according to The Joint Commission (TJC) standards?
- Once per year with one exercise being community-based
- Twice per year with one being a full-scale drill (Correct answer)
- Once every two years
- Quarterly tabletop exercises only
Correct answer: Twice per year with one being a full-scale drill
TJC requires hospitals to conduct two emergency exercises per year, with at least one involving an influx of actual or simulated patients.
Question 3: Which NIMS component establishes standardized protocols for resource typing, credentialing, and inventorying to support resource management during incidents?
- Incident Command System (ICS)
- Emergency Operations Center (EOC)
- Resource Management (Correct answer)
- Public Information and Warning
Correct answer: Resource Management
The Resource Management component of NIMS provides the protocols and systems for identifying, acquiring, allocating, and tracking resources during incidents.
Question 4: A healthcare facility activates its Shelter-in-Place plan during a hazardous chemical release nearby. Which action is the HIGHEST priority in the first 5 minutes?
- Notify the media of the situation
- Seal air intakes and switch HVAC to recirculation mode (Correct answer)
- Evacuate all patients to the parking structure
- Begin decontamination of all incoming patients
Correct answer: Seal air intakes and switch HVAC to recirculation mode
Sealing air intakes and switching HVAC to recirculation prevents external contaminated air from entering the building, which is the most time-critical protective action.
Question 5: In the Hospital Incident Command System (HICS), who is directly responsible for ensuring the safety of all incident personnel and patients?
- Logistics Section Chief
- Safety Officer (Correct answer)
- Liaison Officer
- Operations Section Chief
Correct answer: Safety Officer
The Safety Officer reports directly to the Incident Commander and has authority to stop unsafe actions to protect incident personnel and patients.
Question 6: A hospital receives 40 casualties from a mass casualty incident. The emergency manager wants to track patient disposition in real time. Which tool is MOST appropriate?
- Paper-based triage tags only
- Hospital Incident Command System forms
- Electronic patient tracking system integrated with regional HAvBED (Correct answer)
- A manually updated whiteboard in the ED
Correct answer: Electronic patient tracking system integrated with regional HAvBED
An electronic patient tracking system integrated with regional hospital available beds (HAvBED) enables real-time visibility of patient status and bed capacity across the region.
Question 7: During an after-action review (AAR) following a hospital emergency drill, the team identifies that communication between the ED and the EOC repeatedly failed. The BEST corrective action is to:
- Conduct another full-scale drill immediately
- Add the communication gap to the Improvement Plan with assigned owner and deadline (Correct answer)
- Terminate the Emergency Operations Plan and rewrite it
- Report the failure to The Joint Commission
Correct answer: Add the communication gap to the Improvement Plan with assigned owner and deadline
AARs should produce an Improvement Plan that documents gaps, assigns responsible parties, and sets deadlines to ensure corrective actions are actually implemented.
CHSP Emergency Preparedness & Incident Management 4
During a hospital-wide emergency, the Incident Commander delegates patient care operations to the Operations Section Chief.
This delegation is best described as which ICS principle?