Assessing the Levels of Preparedness Against Disaster of the Hospitals in North Khorasan; Iran, in 2016

Abstract

Iran is considered as one of the disaster-prone nations. Therefore, its hospitals and healthcare centers should be highly prepared to meet crises and disasters. This study aimed to assess the level of preparedness of the hospitals against disasters. This cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted in nine hospitals in one of the provinces in the north-east of Iran. Data were collected from the hospitals with a checklist that contained 220 items covering 10 areas. The relative mean of preparedness against disaster in the hospitals included in this study was estimated to be 46/40%, which means that according to the criteria of interest, these hospitals were at the average level of preparedness. The mean scores of the hospitals’ preparedness against disasters for each of the 10 indices assessed were as follow: 50% for emergency, 33.33% for reception, 33.33% for evacuation, 46.66% for traffic, 41.18% for communication, 49.02% for security, 38.9% for education, 44.44% for support, 41.92% for human resources, and 61.90% for command and management. The results showed that there was a significant positive relationship and correlation between the number of ambulances in the hospitals and the level of prepar-edness (P<0.05). The level of preparedness against crises and disasters of the hospitals was at an average level. The lowest preparedness levels of the hospitals studied were related to reception, evacuation, and communication. Each of these areas requires more attention and specific measures in this context.