Explain possible priorities and responses when dealing with two particular incidents or emergencies in a health or social care setting.

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P4: Explain possible priorities and responses when dealing with two particular incidents or emergencies in a health or social care setting.

There are many incidents and emergencies that can occur in a health and social care setting regardless of how careful an organisation is and how many precautions they take.The health care setting I will be talking about is a hospital, and the priorities and responses that should take place when dealing with incidents and emergencies within it. Priorities are steps that need to be taken in the case of an emergency or incident that are considered more important over other plan of actions. A response is what action is taken after the emergency or incident in order to prevent it from recurring or minimising the risk and likelihood of it happening again. I will be discussing the three most important priorities and the response that follows in the case of a possible emergency or incident in a hospital.

An emergency can be defined as a serious, unexpected, and often dangerous situation requiring immediate action. There are many examples of emergencies that can take place in a hospital setting, some include the following. fire; spillage of chemicals; spreading of infections; intruders. I will be talking about two of these emergencies in more detail.

A fire, can cause sudden panic as it is an unpredictable event. There are certain priorities that should be followed in the case of a fire. The first and most important thing to do would be to inform all service users, medical professionals, staff, visitors and any other persons inside the building that there is a fire. This would be done with the use of a fire alarm, as soon as an individual notices the fire or the signs of a possible fire they should trigger the alarm, in order to alert and inform everyone else of the danger. This would be followed by the second most important priority which would be evacuating all persons from the building. No one person is more important or has the first priority in exiting the building, everyone is equally important, so it is important to ensure there is enough staff to aid the less abled to exit the building themselves i.e. Small children, the elderly, the disabled. The next in line priority would be to get a designated person(s) to check the whole building is empty and that no-one was left inside. This is necessary because there are times when an individual may be in the toilets and did not hear the alarm, or are unable to get out. Some individuals may require  the lifts to get to the bottom floor because they are immobile and unable to get to the ground floor as in hospital settings you are likely to get many floors and wards, however this is a fire hazard as all lifts are likely to be shut down in the occurrence of a fire, so in a hazardous scenario, an individual may be locked inside. It is for these reasons that once the building has been emptied, it should be double checked to check every individual is clear from danger. This is because there are many different types of individuals in a hospital setting, all with different abilities who may not be able to aid themselves in the case of an emergency such as a fire.

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One response that would occur as a result of a fire, would include finding the source, figuring out how the fire started in the first place and putting in steps to insure it doesn’t happen again. For example carrying out a risk assessment if required to figure out what was in place originally how that is working now, and how it needs to be adjusted or added to to ensure it is even safer, to reduce and/or eliminate the hazard where possible. This can take place with the aid of the fire brigade who may access the situation and offer ...

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Here's what a teacher thought of this essay

This is a well thought out essay that has a good structure to it. It deals with a rather precise and particular area but it is written well. It could be enhanced by discussing some specific policies that the writer may have come across in placements. ****