Montgomery County Critical Incident Stress Management Team

Montgomery Hospital Medical Center Stress Mitigation

Introduction

In medicine we use the term “disaster” when we refer to the big one.  The term disaster actually means an event that overwhelms the organization’s, or community’s, ability to respond to it.  It is hoped that through preparation and effective emergency management, that we avoid the event becoming a disaster.  It is more likely that the terms “major event” or “mass event” will be more appropriate.  A major event could be defined as an event, or a series of events, that change the normal functioning of the hospital.  Examples could include utility disruption or severe weather.  A mass event would be one where there is a surge in patients.  This could occur in a large traumatic event such as an explosion, or from an infectious illness such as the flu.  While hospitals and medicine have long been preparing for major events, the tempo of that preparedness was increased after September 11, 2001 and further heightened after the catastrophic hurricanes of 2005.  Since those periods, great efforts and expense has been expended to prepare for any hazard that may impact our communities.

A major event produces not just physical injuries, they also produce psychological injuries that start out acute, and then can become longer standing.  These injuries can occur in both the lay patient population, and also in the emergency workers themselves.  Unfortunately, the efforts to prepare communities and emergency workers for acute stress have lagged behind the more concrete preparedness.  The staff of a hospital will be dealing with acute stress issues in three distinct populations.  First, there are the presenting patients.  Secondly, there is the hospital staff itself.  This second group can be extended to emergency responders that interface with the hospital, such as EMS or law enforcement.  The third group is everyone else from patient families to hospital neighbors that seek refuge within the shadow of the institution.  This last group can present major security issues in crowd control and resource protection.

This website is designed to assist the hospital staff in dealing with acute stress mitigation in the populations mentioned above.  It is set-up by the Montgomery County Critical Incident Stress Management Team.  This group of dedicated volunteers has been providing specialized support for Montgomery County since 1986.  They have expertise in dealing with the emergency services, hospital, and general community populations. 

The Table of Contents for these webpages is below.  It describes many facets about acute/critical incident stress, its symptoms and its management.  There will be onsite training at the hospital to further increase the psychological side of preparedness.  Please fell free to e-mail the Montco CISM Team if you have an questions.

[ Home ] [ MC-CISM ] [ CISM Services Page ] [ Stress Reactions ] [ Extreme Reactions ] [ Individual Approaches ] [ Organizational Approaches ] [ Sustaining Effectiveness ] [ CIS Handouts ]

Send e mail to cismmontco_at_verizon_dot_net with questions or comments about this web site.
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