Bethesda hospitals' emergency preparedness partnership: a model for transinstitutional collaboration of emergency responses.
The events of September 11, 2001 identified a need for health care institutions to develop flexible, creative, and adaptive response mechanisms in the event of a local, regional, or national disaster. The 3 major health care institutions in Bethesda, MD-the National Naval Medical Center (NNMC), the Suburban Hospital Healthcare System (SHHS), and the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (NIHCC)-have created a preparedness partnership that outstrips what any of the institutions could provide independently by pooling complementary resources. The creation of the partnership initially was driven by geographic proximity and by remarkably complementary resources. This article describes the creation of the partnership, the drivers and obstacles to creation, and the functioning and initial accomplishments of the partnership. The article argues that similar proximity and resource relationships exist among institutions at academic centers throughout the United States and suggests that this partnership may serve as a template for other similarly situated institutions.
Henderson
David K
DK
National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. dkh@nih.gov
Malanoski
Michael P
MP
Corapi
Gene
G
Passamani
Eugene
E
Notobartolo
Cynthia
C
Gillette
Chris
C
Hawes
Patricia
P
Lee
Laura M
LM
D002959:Civil Defense; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D004189:Disaster Planning / Q000458:organization & administration*; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006764:Hospitals, Community / Q000458:organization & administration; D006772:Hospitals, Military / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D007373:Interinstitutional Relations; D008396:Maryland; D017146:Models, Organizational; D009316:National Institutes of Health (U.S.) / Q000458:organization & administration; D016730:Program Development; D023481:Terrorism; D014481:United States