Standard Operating Guides

Health and medical Standard Operating Guides (SOG), Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and Emergency Operations Plans (EOP) are guidance documents for how an agency will respond during a time of emergency. The templates below can be used by local health and medical agencies to develop emergency response plans. Each template includes a base document (plan, SOG or SOP) and supporting material (Annexes, Attachments, etc) which are to be modified to become agency specific.


Biological Incident Annex

The Biological Incident Annex (BIA) outlines the actions, roles and responsibilities associated with response to a disease outbreak of known or unknown origin requiring State assistance.  Actions described in this annex take place with or without a declared emergency.  This annex applies only to incidents of State or National significance.  This annex outlines biological incident response actions including threat assessment notification procedures, laboratory testing, joint investigative/response procedures, management of the Strategic National Stockpile and activities related to recovery.  Specific, detailed information is maintained in the KDHE Internal Operating Procedures for a BIA activation.  The link below will direct the user to Kansas’ secure online planning application. Please note, new users to NetEOP will need to contact their county Emergency Manager to gain access.

Chain of Custody SOG and Laboratory Information

The Chain of Custody standard operating guide (SOG) provides guidance on how to fill out the Multi-patient Clinical Specimen Evidence Chain of Custody Receipt  form. 

Community Alternate Care Site

The Alternate Care Site (ACS) Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) is intended to enhance community plans for managing a disaster that creates a surge of patients beyond community capabilities by providing additional facility care to ill patients who would otherwise seek care at hospitals and community health centers.  The purpose of this plan is to provide operational concepts unique to alternate care site response, document coordination, and enhance response efforts when responding to community healthcare demands.

Community Disease Containment SOG

The Community Disease Containment SOG provides counties with step-by-step instructions for reducing or minimizing person-to-person spread of disease by separating individuals with disease or at increased risk for developing disease from individuals at lower risk. 

Community Mental Health Center Plan Template

Kansas has developed a plan template that describes the organization, scope and expectations for provision of disaster preparedness and response activities in order to provide CMHC’s the information necessary to develop their own unique all-hazards response plan.  These plans will describe the local agency’s responsibilities, area resources for disaster response and community coordination of disaster responses.

Dialysis Center Plan Template

This template is provided by KDHE and is a general emergency management plan for any dialysis center.  This emergency management plan includes provisions to ensure the life safety of employees, patients, and visitors, assure availability of dialysis care, protect electronic and hard copy clinical and business records (data and paper critical records), mitigate damage to property and contents and return to normal operations as soon as possible.

EMS Planning Guidance

This document provides guidance to organizations and personnel starting the emergency planning process for the first time and to those reviewing or updating existing plans.  The steps outlined in this document represent a very simplified approach to emergency planning.

Emergency Support Function (ESF) 8 Plan

The local Emergency Support Function (ESF) 8 – Health and Medical annex to the county Emergency Operations Plan provides information related to health and medical activities conducted in response to any incident.  This annex describes actions by county health and medical partners in support of incident response.  The link below will direct the user to Kansas’ secure online planning application.      

Fatality Management Information

Management of the dead is one of the most difficult aspects of disaster response, and natural disasters, in particular, can cause a large number of deaths. Although the humanitarian community has been aware of these challenges for over 20 years, the massive loss of life following the South Asian tsunami in 2004 highlighted limitations in our current capacity to respond. Several large natural disasters in 2005, including Hurricane Katrina in the United States, Hurricane Stan in Central America, and the earthquake in Northern Pakistan and India, further reveal the need for practical guidance.

Hospital COOP

The purpose of the COOP plan is to establish policy and guidance to ensure that essential functions for hospitals are continued in the event that manmade, natural, or technological emergencies disrupt or threaten to disrupt normal operations.  The COOP plan enables the hospital to operate with a significantly reduced workforce and diminished availability of resources, and to operate from an alternate work site should the primary facility become uninhabitable. 

Hospital EOP

This Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) is based on the Hospital Incident Command System (HICS).  The base plan discusses overall incident management and operations for hospitals during response to emergencies.  Supporting annexes provide detailed operational guidance based on incident functions.

Kansas System for Early Registration of Volunteers (K-SERV)

The purpose of these standard operating procedures (SOP) is to provide guidance for volunteer management. The SOPs are divided into several sections such as Request and Receipt of Local Volunteer Resources and the Management of Spontaneous Unaffiliated Volunteers. In addition, the SOPs are tailored for specific organizations and roles.

Local Public Health COOP SOG

The purpose of the COOP plan is to establish policy and guidance to ensure that essential functions for county health departments are continued in the event that manmade, natural, or technological emergencies disrupt or threaten to disrupt normal operations.  The COOP plan enables the health department to operate with a significantly reduced workforce and diminished availability of resources, and to operate from an alternate work site should the primary facility become uninhabitable. 

Mass Dispensing SOG

This standard operating guide (SOG) may be used during an emergency for management of medical materials from the state including Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) assets.  This template contains all information necessary for medical materials management, including point-of-contact information, clinic maps, flow charts, and point-of-dispensing (POD) clinic management guidance.

Public Information & Communication SOG

The Public Information & Communication Standard Operating Guide (PIC-SOG) provides step-by-step instructions, tools and templates for planning public information and communication activities to support Mass Dispensing operations consistent with the CDC Strategic National Stockpile Technical Assistance Review (SNS-TAR), as well as all-hazards public information preparedness and response activities.

Safety Net Clinics Emergency Management Plan

KDHE and the Kansas Association for the Medically Underserved developed a comprehensive emergency management plan template to assist safety net clinics with preparing for and responding to disasters affecting clinics and communities. To effectively prepare for an emergency, each clinic should have an emergency preparedness and response plan that is adopted by the board of directors, shared and understood by all staff and connected to plans with community partners.



How to Submit a Plan as a Grant Deliverable

Preparedness is obligated to retain copies of certain SOGs under the terms various federal grants.  Sub-grantees of the local public health emergency preparedness grant and hospital preparedness grant should submit completed local agency plans associated with their grant deliverables to Preparedness either electronically (preferred) or by mail to:

Kansas Department of Health and Environment
Bureau of Community Health Systems
1000 SW Jackson Ste 340
Topeka, KS 66612
btgrantreports@kdheks.gov

Preparedness recommends that agencies print off their completed plans, SOGs and other documents and assemble them into notebooks.

How to Request Technical Assistance for Planning

What is technical assistance?
Technical assistance can be provided to health and medical agencies to help orient them on specific planning topics.  If you are a new planner or looking for additional ideas on enhancing plans, KDHE can provide assistance to educate the agencies through one on one or group discussions.  Assistance can be requested by contacting your respective KDHE jurisdictional planner.  Type of assistance that can be provided include Technical Assistance Review (TAR) guidance, Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)/Standard Operating Guide (SOG) review, Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)/Standard Operating Guide (SOG) training and general planning questions.

Field Technical Assistance Team Map (.pdf) Updated July 8, 2011

Planning Development & Review Team Map (.pdf) Updated July 8, 2011

Kansas ESF 8 (Health and Medical) Network