Eight Years After 9/11, Disaster Response Lessons Still Hold True

The incident was a good example of how hospitals must ramp up emergency response efforts when they receive word of a problem, but don't know the extent of it, Richard Morrow, administrative director of safety at St. Vincent's Medical Center in Manhattan, said at the time of the incident during an interview with HCPro's Hospital Safety Center.

It's more effective to activate the incident command center at full throttle—and then pull back efforts once you've assessed the situation—than to react moderately, Morrow said.

More recently, the H1N1 swine flu pandemic points to this same principle, as on a given day, any ER could find itself suddenly inundated should a spike in swine flu cases occur in a community.

Escalating scenarios: Emergencies often experience further complications. The September 11 demonstrates this point, as first the World Trade Center towers were attacked, U.S. flights were grounded, the towers collapsed, and part of New York City was evacuated. Each escalation potentially worsened emergency response efforts at hospitals.

Since 2001, The Joint Commission has heavily emphasized that hospitals must anticipate an escalating series of events during a catastrophe, a concept that also came true during Katrina.