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Comprehensive Resilience in the face of existential threats
Long-Term Downtime Preparedness Engagement
Driven by the increasing frequency of severe ransomware attacks and infrastructure failures. Unlike short-term disruptions lasting a few hours, long-term downtimes can extend over days or weeks, compounding challenges for hospitals ill-equipped for prolonged outages.
Hospitals must develop detailed department-specific procedures as well as formalized activation criteria to ensure critical tasks can continue through manual workflows or alternative processes.
Why Choose Us?
At Stone Risk Consulting, we recognize that preparing for downtime requires more than generic protocols—it demands a tailored, strategic approach that addresses the unique challenges and dependencies of each healthcare organization.
Our Recommended Approach to Long-Term Downtime Preparedness is built on our extensive collaboration with hospitals and health systems
Our Approach
Long-Term Downtime Preparedness in Healthcare Whitepaper
Checkout how we craft a comprehensive strategy that meets your unique needs and secures the future of your operations with a step-by-step engagement overview. This whitepaper addresses critical components of prolonged outages and six best practices that will equip your organization to manage disruptions.
The Benefits
01
Sustained Workflow Adaptations
Hospitals must implement manual processes for critical workflows such as medication administration, diagnostic services, and patient tracking. These processes must be efficient enough to sustain operations over extended periods.
02
Resource Management
03
Extended outages strain supplies, including paper forms, backup power sources, and communication tools. Proactive stockpiling and resource allocation plans are essential.
Enhanced Staff Resilience
Long-term downtimes place significant psychological and physical stress on healthcare workers. Comprehensive training and support systems help staff navigate the prolonged demands of manual workflows and alternative procedures.
04
Coordination Across Departments
Hospitals must foster interdepartmental collaboration to maintain seamless operations despite the absence of digital systems. This involves synchronizing efforts across clinical teams, IT, and administrative staff.
How it Works
Assessment of Current Procedures and Capabilities
We begin by conducting a detailed evaluation of your hospital’s existing downtime procedures. This includes:
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Documentation Review: Analyzing existing plans, policies, and protocols to identify gaps and redundancies.
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Stakeholder Input: Engaging clinical, administrative, and IT teams to understand pain points and real-world challenges.
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Workflow Mapping: Examining critical workflows across departments to identify dependencies on IT systems and medical equipment.
Outcome:
This phase helps establish a baseline, revealing areas that require immediate attention and opportunities for improvement.
Prioritization of Critical Systems and Workflows
Our approach focuses on identifying and prioritizing the ones essential to patient care and operational continuity. This involves:
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Ranking systems by their impact on patient safety and care delivery.
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Highlighting workflows that span multiple departments, such as medication administration, diagnostic imaging, and patient admissions.
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Determining which services can be curtailed or modified during extended outages to allocate resources effectively.
Outcomes:
Not all systems and workflows are equally critical. This prioritization ensures that efforts are directed where they are needed most.
Development of Tailored Downtime Procedures
Using insights from the assessment, we
collaborate with your team to create
downtime procedures tailored to your
organization’s unique needs. Key
elements include:
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Activation Criteria and Triggers: Establishing clear thresholds for initiating downtime protocols.
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Alternative Workflows: Designing manual processes to replace digital systems during outages.
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Communication Plans: Ensuring effective interdepartmental and external communication using backup methods.
Outcomes:
Our tailored procedures address the specific challenges your hospital faces, ensuring readiness for both planned and unplanned disruptions.
Simplification and Standardization of Tools and Documentation
To facilitate adoption and usability, we create user-friendly tools and resources that empower your team during an outage:
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Customized templates for workflows, logs, and checklists.
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Centralized guides that consolidate critical information into an accessible format.
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Standardized procedures across departments to eliminate inconsistencies.
Outcomes:
This approach simplifies implementation, ensuring staff can easily execute procedures under high-pressure conditions.
Training and Simulations to Build Confidence
Preparedness requires practice. We develop and deliver training programs and simulation exercises that:
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Familiarize staff with downtime procedures and manual workflows.
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Test the organization’s response to realistic outage scenarios.
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Identify gaps and opportunities for refinement through hands-on experience.
Outcomes:
Together, we can craft a comprehensive strategy that meets your unique needs and secures the future of your operations.
