American journal of disaster medicine
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Comparative Study
Assessing hospital disaster preparedness in Shiraz, Iran 2011: teaching versus private hospitals.
In disasters, hospitals play a crucial role in supplying essential medical care to the society but there is no standardized checklist for assessing hospital disaster preparedness. ⋯ At the time of our study, the total preparedness among hospitals was at the intermediate level, but in some key components such as operating room management, surge capacity, and human resources, the total preparedness was very limited and at an early stage of development, therefore, requiring urgent attention and improvement.
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Describe the prevalence of pediatric casualties in disaster drills by community hospitals and determine if there is an association between the use of pediatric casualties in disaster drills and the proximity of a community hospital to a tertiary children's hospital. ⋯ The majority of community hospitals do not incorporate children into their disaster drills, and the closer a community hospital is to a tertiary children's hospital, the less likely it is to include children in its drills. Focused effort and additional resources should be directed toward preparing community hospitals to care for children in the event of a disaster.
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Syrian revolution that began on March 15, 2011 represents not only a political crisis but also a humanitarian one where many relief attempts for saving civil injured were tried. ⋯ Setting up a field hospital in such an area with unsafe conditions needs good communication with medical and relief organizations in the site of crisis, selection of a location as near as possible to the Turkish border, developing a convenient triaging plan, and training nonmedical volunteers to do simple tasks.
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With increasing population displacement and worsening water insecurity after the 2010 earthquake, Haiti experienced a large cholera outbreak. Our goal was to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of seven community health facilities' ability to respond to a surge in cholera cases. Since 2010, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) with a number of public and private donors has been working with seven health facilities in an effort to reduce morbidity and mortality from cholera infection. ⋯ A total of 119 hospital staff from seven sites participated in the simulation exercise including community health workers, clinicians, managers, pharmacists, cleaners, and security guards. Clinics that had challenges during the simulated clinical care of patients were those that did not appropriately treat all cholera patients according to protocol, particularly those that were vulnerable, those that would need additional staff to properly treat patients during a surge of cholera, and those that required a better inventory of supplies. Simulation-based activities have the potential to identify healthcare delivery system vulnerabilities that are amenable to intervention prior to a cholera surge.
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Over the last century, the number of disasters has increased. Many governments and scientific institutions agree that disaster medicine education should be included in the standard medical curriculum. Italian medical students' perceptions of mass casualty incidents and disasters and whether-and if so to what extent-such topics are part of their academic program were investigated. ⋯ Most of the students surveyed had never attended courses on disaster medicine during their medical school program. However, respondents would like to increase their knowledge in this area and would welcome the introduction of specific courses into the standard medical curriculum.