The Impact of Exposure to Previous Disasters on Hospital Disaster Surge Capacity Preparedness in Finland: Hospital disaster surge capacity preparedness.
Disaster Med Public Health Prep
; 18: e15, 2024 Jan 31.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38291961
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
As disasters are rare and high-impact events, it is important that the learnings from disasters are maximized. The aim of this study was to explore the effect of exposure to a past disaster or mass casualty incident (MCI) on local hospital surge capacity planning.METHODS:
The current hospital preparedness plans of hospitals receiving surgical emergency patients in Finland were collected (n = 28) and analyzed using the World Health Organization (WHO) hospital emergency checklist tool. The surge capacity score was compared between the hospitals that had been exposed to a disaster or MCI with those who had not.RESULTS:
The overall median score of all key components on the WHO checklist was 76% (range 24%). The median surge capacity score was 65% (range 39%). There was no statistical difference between the surge capacity score of the hospitals with history of a disaster or MCI compared to those without (65% for both, P = 0.735).CONCLUSION:
Exposure to a past disaster or MCI did not appear to be associated with an increased local hospital disaster surge capacity score. The study suggests that disaster planning should include structured post-action processes for enabling meaningful improvement after an experienced disaster or MCI.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Disaster Planning
/
Mass Casualty Incidents
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
En
Journal:
Disaster Med Public Health Prep
/
Disaster med. public health prep. (Online)
/
Disaster medicine and public health preparedness (Online)
Journal subject:
SAUDE PUBLICA
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Country of publication: