Assessment of disaster preparedness among emergency departments in Italian hospitals: a cautious warning for disaster risk reduction and management capacity.

STUDY HYPOTHESIS: Since the 1990s, Italian hospitals are required to comply with emergency disaster plans known as Emergency Plan for Massive Influx of Casualties. While various studies reveal that hospitals overall suffer from an insufficient preparedness level, the aim of this study was to better determine the preparedness level of Emergency Departments of Italian hospitals by assessing the knowledge-base of emergency physicians regarding basic disaster planning and procedures. METHODS: A prospective observational study utilized a convenience sample of Italian Emergency Departments identified from the Italian Ministry of Health website. Anonymous telephone interviews were conducted of medical consultants in charge at the time in the respective Emergency Departments, and were structured in 3 parts: (1) general data and demographics, (2) the current disaster plan and (3) protocols and actions of the disaster plan. RESULTS: Eighty-five Emergency Departments met inclusion criteria, and 69 (81 %) agreed to undergo the interview. Only 45 % of participants declared to know what an Emergency Plan for Massive Influx of Casualties is, 41 % believed to know who has the authority to activate the plan, 38 % knew who is in charge of intra-hospital operations. In Part 3 physicians revealed a worrisome inconsistency in critical content knowledge of their answers. CONCLUSIONS: Results demonstrate a poor knowledge-base of basic hospital disaster planning concepts by Italian Emergency Department physicians-on-duty. These findings should alert authorities to enhance staff disaster preparedness education, training and follow-up to ensure that these plans are known to all who have responsibility for disaster risk reduction and management capacity.

Constructing a World Wide Wed site for disaster management and humanitarian assistance

There is a huge need for access to information in the areas of disaster relief, disaster medicine and humanitarian assistance. The extraordinarily rapid increase in the literature in these subject areas attests to this need. However, use of the printed word has substantial limitations that are even more profound in the developing world. This paper discusses the Center of Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance and describes the World Wide Web and the implications it has in disaster management and medicine. It describe methods for obtaining user input to the techniques used for the areas of disaster manager medicine. The implementation of an on-line Internet reference desk that will provide 1) a list of expert 2) a searchable disaster database and 3)on-line simulation courses and training excieses also is discussed (AU)