Professionalism, Accountability, Best Practices, and Ethics in Emergency Management

Two Standardized Actions and Ethical Practices in Emergency Management 

Ethics is the study of standards of conducts and moral judgment among people or situations. The determination of right and wrong are all based on ethics. In most instances, ethics is applied in religious organizations, hospitals, businesses, and disaster management. According to one of the surveys conducted in the past five years, emergency management organizations experience numerous cases of unethical conduct on a yearly basis. Some of the emergency management practitioners lack ethical education on how to handle different kinds of disasters. There are standardized actions in regards to ethical practices that emergency management practitioners must adopt to ensure efficacy in the process of disaster management. 

Standard Ethics Of Beneficence And Respect For Autonomy And Justice . 

Victims of a disaster must always be accorded respect regardless of color, race, ethnicity or gender. Over the years, several death cases have been reported in emergency management programs due to negligence and bias (Crawford et al., 2013) . For instance, unequal distribution of medical resources among victims is an act that is rampant in disaster management. Emergency practitioners distribute resources based on their mood and liking, hence, exposing more victims to pain and anguish. According to various articles and publications, emergency management practitioners should learn to curtail their emotions and stick to the professional codes of conduct. 

Beneficence, justice, and respect for autonomy are some of the basic ethical guidelines that emergency management practitioners should adopt. There are several emergency management organizations around the globe, but their credibility is always measured in terms of ethics and professionalism (Crawford et al., 2013) . For instance, the Red Cross Society is one of the emergency management organizations with the highest rating in regards to the professional code of conduct and ethics. The employees of the organization undergo thorough disaster management training, making them the best in handling emergencies. Apart from training, the organization practitioners have always maintained professional ethics in their work. 

Rationale 

Goodwill and fair treatment of disaster victims are what defines emergency management. The reason for the establishment of emergency management is to help in countering the negative impacts of a disaster (Jung and Song, 2015) . In most cases, emergency management practitioners are not paid for the services offered considering that the whole process is a voluntary service. Due to the nature of emergency management work, practitioners are recruited based on ethics and voluntary consent. The victims of a disaster are not expected to pay for the emergency management services, and any practitioner that requests pay violates the Standard ethics of beneficence. 

Rationing Care in Disasters 

Emergency management ethics involves a set of principles and values that streamline the duties and parameters of healthcare service delivery. Triage is a concept that provides ethical guidelines in the decision-making process. The concept of triage has been used under different occasions to solve emergency matters (Jung and Song, 2015) . Based on the concept of Triage, disaster victims are screened according to their treatment needs in relation to the available resources. Emergency management depends on the magnitude of the disaster. In most instances, disaster affects several people, hence, making the recovery process difficult. The work of the emergency management practitioners is to ensure equal distribution of healthcare resources and service. At times, the ethical concept of equal distribution may be put to the test when the number of victims surpasses the available medical or emergency resources. 

Emergency management practitioners are always advised to revert to triage in cases where the number of victims surpasses available resources. For instance, much attention should be given to the most injured individuals before attending to others with minor injuries. In disasters like hurricane and earthquake, only victims that show signs of life are rescued while those who experience serious pain and injuries are left to perish. The act of selecting victims in the rescue process is against the normal ethical conduct but approved in professional ethics. There is a slight difference between general ethics and professional ethics. Professional ethics are decided by organizations while general ethics applies to all human activities. 

Rational: 

Triage is a concept that falls under professional ethics and gives an entirely different definition of resource distribution. According to various publications, many emergency management practitioners find it difficult to deal with the concept of triage. Neglecting individuals in need of healthcare subjects practitioners of mental and psychological problems. Some experts recommend psychological counseling of practitioners after every rescue process. Triage is an internationally accepted professional ethics, and nobody can go against the concept in emergency management. In emergency management, practitioners are supposed to focus on helping individuals who show signs of life (Jung and Song, 2015) . Over the years, many stable victims have been left on the disaster sites while those with extreme injuries rushed to medical institutions. Such cases have proven worthless because the victims die in hospitals. Rationing care in a disaster is one of the best ethical standards that emergency management practitioners should implement to professionalize the field further. 

Accountability Methods in Emergency Management Procedures 

There are two primary methods used in ensuring accountability in emergency management. The methods are applied under different circumstances and contexts. In most instances, the initiatives in the accountability process are always voluntary. The subscribers of accountability may wish to make their actions accountable, but dialogue and confrontation may also be adopted (Sheng et al., 2015) . Although the accountability methods are efficient, other methods should also be researched to deal with emergency management. The two methods of accountability applied in emergency management procedures are; 

Improving Coordination Strategies and Developing Doctrine 

Improving coordination strategies and developing doctrines is a perfect way of enhancing accountability in emergency management. Doctrine deals with the identification of success and provision of accountability throughout all layers of emergency management. Coordination of emergency management departments determines the level of success in the rescue and recovery field (Sheng et al., 2015) . Most of the emergency management organizations are run on voluntary labor and fundraiser programs. Accountability is, therefore, ideal to ensure that the organization funds are not embezzled. All organs or departments within the emergency management organizations must account for their action to enhance transparency 

Rational: 

Organizations around the globe have adopted different kinds of coordination strategies to strengthen accountability. Over the years, many organizations have failed due to poor coordination between the departments. For instance, a failed coordination between the human resource management and finance department may create a loophole for money embezzlement. Apart from organization departments, coordination of strategies also helps in reducing expense risks. Coordination between departments is one of the strategies that can be combined with other strategies to ensure accountability is achieved. 

Conducting Assessment 

Assessment is an important process in emergency management. Around eighty percent of organizations conduct the internal assessment after given periods. Although accountability is based on finances, practitioners' performance is also of great importance in emergency management (Sheng et al., 2015) . Any lapse in regards to work or practitioner negligence is subject to accountability. Through assessment, Emergency management can identify and account for all challenges. 

Rationale: 

Organizations measure their success based on the assessment results. During the assessment process, the organization expenditure and income are determined to ensure full accountability (Jung and Song, 2015) . In emergency management, expenditure and received donations are checked to ensure that much is not spent in the rescue process. Assessment is internationally recognized as one of the methods of enhancing accountability in emergency management. 

Importance of Values Proposed In the International Association of Emergency Managers 

Respect is one of the values proposed by IAE managers. Professional respect for colleagues, officials, and organizations are ideal in emergency management. When respect is accorded to every individual within the emergency management team, goals and objectives can be easily achieved. Apart from colleagues and supervisors, respect is an ethical virtue that cuts across all aspects of human life. Emergency management practitioners are also supposed to respect their jobs by adhering to set rules and regulations. For instance, when the practitioners adopt laziness and report to work late, some of the important emergency management activities will remain stalled, hence, dragging the organization's performance backward. 

Professionalism is also a value proposed by IAE managers. All emergency management bodies are expected to exercise professionalism in every activity that they engage in. All activities or processes within the emergency management body must follow the required legal framework and code of ethics. For instance, in a case where the numbers of victims surpass the available resources, emergency management practitioners must consider attending to serious cases before dealing with the less serious ones. 

Commitment is another key value proposed by IAE managers. Organizations that lack commitment in their area of service are most likely to fail. In emergency management, commitment plays an integral in the whole process. Without commitment, no activity can take place in emergency management (Sheng et al., 2015) . For instance, when the practitioners feel disoriented, they do not take their job seriously, hence, leading to organization stagnation. Being that emergency management involves countering situations, commitment is a mandatory virtue to be adopted by emergency management practitioners. 

References 

Crawford, L., Langston, C., & Bajracharya, B. (2013). Participatory project management for improved disaster resilience.  International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment, 4 (3), 317-333. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com 

Jung, K., & Song, M. (2015). Linking emergency management networks to disaster resilience: Bonding and bridging strategy in hierarchical or horizontal collaboration networks.  Quality and Quantity, 49 (4), 1465-1483 

Sheng, L., Jing, T. W., Dong, Y. G., & Fei, L. (2015). An emergency dispatch model considering the urgency of the requirement for reliefs in different disaster areas.  Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management, 8 (5), 1576-1601