Assignment Purpose:

To identify data security processes in a disaster.

Assignment Description:

You are the HIM director of a 200-bed acute care hospital, which has recently been struck by a tornado. Unfortunately, the main computers and back-up tapes have been destroyed; however, the HIM department in the basement with paper charts remains intact.

Calls are coming in requesting information on injured patients. Nurses and physicians are in the department looking for information on patients. Since, the computers are down, no one is sure what to do.

How do you control the situation? How do you protect the data? How do you track the data?  What should be included in a disaster recovery plan to address this type of situation?

Develop a checklist of 25 items that can be used in this type of situation that addresses at minimum the above four questions.