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DEPARTMENT: HOSPITALWIDE / OF: 3
EFFECTIVE:
APPROVED BY: / REVISED:
POLICY:
- The hospital shall seek to maintain a cooperative relationship with the news media and community during an emergency.
- The Public Information Officer (PIO) shall develop a media relations plan in cooperation with the media to ensure accurate and timely reporting.
- Pre-script risk communication messages for likely incidents shall be created and ready when needed:
- These messages shall be developed in coordination with Public Health and other response agencies as appropriate.
- The Public Information Officer will gather information on the response activities.
- The Public Information Officer, in coordination with the local Emergency Management Director, other hospitals and Public Health, shall develop joint communication via Joint Information Sytem (JIS).
Joint Information Center (JIC) is a physical location where public information professionals from organizations involved in incident management activities can re-locate to perform critical emergency information, crisis communications and public affairs functions.
- Don’t send out information you don’t know to be accurate.
- Communication to the community shall include appropriate guidance for all age groups and populations in a timely and effective manner.
- Public Education Programs Include:
- Direction on what actions should be taken
- Direction on what actions should not be taken
- Appropriate details about the incident
- Actions taken by the hospital and community
- The Security Branch Director shall approve media access to the facility. Only the Public Information Officer shall interact with the media.
- Questions not related to the hospital’s response shall be referred to state or local emergency management agencies.
- When a Joint Information Center (JIC) is established, a hospital representative shall be designated to participate in the JIC.
- Hospital staff shall not discuss topics that are outside of their areas of expertise, and willnot communicate with the media unless authorized by Hospital Command Center.
- Condition reports, stating the patient's condition only, will be authorized by Nursing Administration. This condition information will be made available to Information Desk, Nursing Managers and Nursing Supervisor. The information on patient conditions is limited to the following:
- Good - The patient is conscious, vital signs are stable and within normal limits and the outlook for recovery is excellent.
- Satisfactory - The patient is conscious but may be uncomfortable, vital signs are stable and within the normal limits, patient is making satisfactory progress in relation to his/her diagnosis, outlook for recovery is favorable.
- Serious - The patient’s vital signs may be unstable, not within normal limits, or both; patient is acutely ill; the outlook for recovery is questionable.
- Critical - The patient has major complications; vital signs are unstable, not within normal limits, or both; the outlook for recovery is unfavorable.
- Media will only be given permission to interview, tape, film or photograph patients with their expressed permission.
- In the case of minors, consent for interview or release of information to the media must be obtained from parent or guardian.
- Information regarding patients who are unconscious or medically incompetent may only be released with the consent of patient's guardian or family member in accordance with consent laws.
- Information to be released as a case of public record (i.e., persons under arrest or held under police surveillance, persons brought to the hospital by law enforcement or fire department, cases of alleged shooting, stabbing, poisoning, injury by moving vehicle, dogbites and cases reportable to government agencies) by authorized personnel after nextofkin have been notified or a reasonable attempt to do so has been made.
- Identity; name, sex, address, age and marital status
- Death of a patient
- Burns; statement regarding burns to face, chest, hands, legs, etc. Severity and degree of burns must be determined by physician
- Internal injuries; state only that there are internal injuries
- Head injuries; state only that there are head injuries
- Fractures; only state member involved
- Shooting or stabbing; the number of wounds and their locations as determined by physician
- Unconsciousness; a statement of this fact may be made if patient is brought to hospital in this condition
- No statement shall be made regarding the following:
- HIV or AIDS
- Suicide or attempted suicide
- Sexual assault
- Poisoning
- Intoxication
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