Emergency risk management (ERM) is the process of identifying potential threats and minimizing the impact of disasters on business operations and people. The process requires leaders within an organization to determine how they will keep stakeholders informed and safe during critical events. Leaders must also craft disaster recovery plans to quickly remedy the effects of a catastrophic event on communities, government agencies and organizations.

Medical practitioners must move beyond their own expertise to make informed patient care decisions. This can be achieved by normalizing team collaboration, encouraging providers to access information gathered by other specialists along the patient’s continuum of care. However, healthcare is plagued with fragmented communication due to archaic technology. There is also a lack of accountability when establishing communication roles and responsibilities across care teams.

Organizations require a well-crafted clinical communication plan to streamline workflows across care teams. The communication plan must include processes, hardware and software that improves how providers perform. An effective communication plan eliminates barriers across departments and ensures that all providers are informed of patient-related incidents. High-level healthcare administrators are responsible for designing, managing and launching the clinical communication plan.