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Does Hospital Disaster Preparedness Predict Response Performance During a Full-scale Exercise? A Pilot Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2014

Ahmadreza Djalali ,
Luca Carenzo ,
Luca Ragazzoni ,
Massimo Azzaretto ,
Roberta Petrino ,
Francesco Della Corte  and
Pier Luigi Ingrassia
Ahmadreza Djalali*
Affiliation:
CRIMEDIM – (Center for Research and Education in Emergency and Disaster Medicine), Università del Piemonte Orientale, Novara, Italy
Luca Carenzo
Affiliation:
CRIMEDIM – (Center for Research and Education in Emergency and Disaster Medicine), Università del Piemonte Orientale, Novara, Italy
Luca Ragazzoni
Affiliation:
CRIMEDIM – (Center for Research and Education in Emergency and Disaster Medicine), Università del Piemonte Orientale, Novara, Italy
Massimo Azzaretto
Affiliation:
CRIMEDIM – (Center for Research and Education in Emergency and Disaster Medicine), Università del Piemonte Orientale, Novara, Italy A.O. Sant'Anna Como—ED Cantû Hospital, Cantû, Italy
Roberta Petrino
Affiliation:
Emergency Medicine Unit, S. Andrea Hospital, Vercelli, Italy
Francesco Della Corte
Affiliation:
CRIMEDIM – (Center for Research and Education in Emergency and Disaster Medicine), Università del Piemonte Orientale, Novara, Italy
Pier Luigi Ingrassia
Affiliation:
CRIMEDIM – (Center for Research and Education in Emergency and Disaster Medicine), Università del Piemonte Orientale, Novara, Italy
*
Correspondence: Ahmadreza Djalali, MD, EMDM, PhD CRIMEDIM Universita' del Piemonte Orientale Novara, Italy. E-mail djalali@med.unipmn.it
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Abstract

Introduction

The assessment of hospital disaster preparedness and response performance is a way to find and remove possible gaps and weaknesses in hospital disaster management effectiveness. The aim of this pilot study was to test the association between the level of preparedness and the level of response performance during a full-scale hospital exercise.

Method

This pilot study was conducted in a hospital during a full-scale exercise in the Piedmont region of Italy. The preparedness evaluation was conducted by a group of three experts, three days before the exercise, and the response evaluation was conducted during the exercise. The functional capacity module was used for preparedness evaluation, and the response performance of the “command and control” function of the hospital was evaluated by nine semiquantitative performance indicators.

Results

The preparedness of the chosen hospital was 59%, while the response performance was evaluated as 70%. The hospital staff conducted Simple Triage and Rapid Transport (START) triage while they received 61 casualties, which was 90% correct for the yellow group and 100% correct for the green group.

Conclusion

This pilot study showed that it is possible to use standardized evaluations tools, to simultaneously assess the relationship between preparedness elements and response performance measures. An experimental study including a group of hospitals, also using more comprehensive evaluation tools, should be done to evaluate the correlation between the level of preparedness and the response performance of a hospital, and the impact of hospital disaster planning, on the outcome of disasters victims.

DjalaliA, CarenzoL, RagazzoniL, AzzarettoM, PetrinoR, Della CorteF, IngrassiaPL. Does Hospital Disaster Preparedness Predict Response Performance During a Full-scale Exercise? A Pilot Study. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2014;29(4):1-7.

Keywords

hospitalpredictionpreparednessresponse
Type
Original Research
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 29 , Issue 5 , October 2014 , pp. 441 - 447
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2014 

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