Research paperEmergency preparedness

HCA 545 Module 3 Terrorism and Natural Disaster Preparations

Half of this assignment is a filled-in planning exercise on your own employer. The threat evaluation and the two forms are deliverables, not illustrations of the paper.

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Last reviewed · August 23, 2026

Written by

Maren Caldwell

MSN, RN, CNE

Medical-surgical nursing, pharmacology and NCLEX preparation

Reviewed by

Dr. Tessa Redmond

DNP, RN, CNE

Evidence-based practice and clinical education

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Interpret the task
Assignment instructions
Deliverables
Proposed outline
Research plan
Reference shortlist
Final review

Two of the deliverables are forms, not prose

Read the last two sentences of the brief before planning the paper, because they change what this assignment is. A threat evaluation for your own employer and two completed contingency forms are applied deliverables, and they will be marked on whether they describe a real organisation. That means naming the setting, the hazards it actually faces, and the vulnerabilities it actually has: a coastal hospital's threat profile is dominated by hurricane and flood, an inland one by tornado and ice, an urban academic centre by mass casualty and infrastructure failure. Use a recognised method rather than listing worries, since hazard vulnerability analysis is the standard approach and scores each threat on probability against impact so that the plan has a priority order rather than a list. Name the setting before scoring anything, since the profile is what makes the evaluation specific. Rank them, and the six plan elements below acquire an order of their own.

The prose half should follow the six elements the brief names rather than reorganising them, because they are effectively a rubric. Two of them repay real attention. Mitigation of confusion is a command-and-control question, and the answer is an incident command structure with predefined roles, since confusion in a disaster is usually a failure of role clarity rather than of information. Mitigation of fear and panic is a risk communication question with its own evidence base: early, honest, repeated messaging from a single credible voice, and explicit acknowledgement of uncertainty. The communication section should then differentiate audiences rather than treating them as one, because employees need instructions, consumers need reassurance and access information, and authorities need situation reports in a standard format. Note also that federal conditions of participation require emergency preparedness planning, which makes this a compliance obligation and not merely good practice. Say so, since a compliance framing changes how the opening section is argued.

Likely learning objectives

Produce a threat evaluation grounded in a real organisation's hazard profile.
Apply a hazard vulnerability method rather than listing threats.
Treat confusion as a role-clarity problem and panic as a communication problem.
Differentiate crisis communication by audience.

Assignment instructions

Read the full question

Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.

Details: Based on the Readings, write a paper (1,250-1,500 words) that focuses on the issue of threats of terrorism and natural disasters. Address the following: 1) The importance of incorporating a business plan contingency for addressing such threats. 2) What the contingency plan needs to include, for example: a) Workforce training. b) Mitigation of confusion. c) Time management. d) Building a response capacity. e) Coordination of local health agencies. f) Mitigation of fear and panic. 3) How the contingency plan’s particulars will be communicated to the various stakeholders (employees, consumers, local and national authorities, etc.). Using your present employer organization as a model, prepare the organization’s business threat evaluation (see pages 380-383 [Table 20-1 through Table 20-3] in the textbook). Complete two of the Sample Forms for Organizational Contingency Planning for Disasters and Terrorism (see pages 383-392 [Figure 20-2, Figure 20-3, Figure 20-5, and Figure 20-6] in the textbook). Prepare this assignment according to the APA guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required. This assignment uses a grading rubric. Instructors will be using the rubric to grade the assignment; therefore, students should review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the assignment criteria and expectations for successful completion of the assignment.

Course-wide instructions that accompany this question

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS Discussion Questions (DQ) Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words. Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source. HCA 545 Module 3 Terrorism and Natural Disaster Preparations One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words. I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses. Weekly Participation Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately. In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies. Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work). Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week. APA Format and Writing Quality Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required). Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation. I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition. Use of Direct Quotes I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly. As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content. It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source. LopesWrite Policy For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me. Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes. Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own? Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score. Late Policy The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies. Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances. If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect. I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension. As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading. Communication Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class. Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.

What HCA 545 Module 3 requires

01A paper of 1,250-1,500 words in APA format.
02The importance of a business plan contingency for terrorism and natural disaster threats.
03What the contingency plan needs to include, covering the six named elements.
04How the plan will be communicated to employees, consumers and local and national authorities.
05A business threat evaluation for your present employer organization.
06Two completed sample forms for organizational contingency planning.