Disaster preparedness in Australian hospitals: A cross-sectional survey
Objective: This study examined the extent of disaster preparedness in Australian hospitals, seeking to identify opportunities for improvement. Insufficient preparation can lead to mortality/morbidity in post-disaster scenarios. Early identification of resolvable shortcomings in preparing for events...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2024-12-01
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| Series: | Progress in Disaster Science |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590061724000590 |
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| author | Faran Shoaib Naru Kate Churruca Janet C. Long Mitchell Sarkies Jeffrey Braithwaite |
| author_facet | Faran Shoaib Naru Kate Churruca Janet C. Long Mitchell Sarkies Jeffrey Braithwaite |
| author_sort | Faran Shoaib Naru |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Objective: This study examined the extent of disaster preparedness in Australian hospitals, seeking to identify opportunities for improvement. Insufficient preparation can lead to mortality/morbidity in post-disaster scenarios. Early identification of resolvable shortcomings in preparing for events is an important goal. Materials and methods: A purpose-designed anonymous survey was distributed to all Local-Hospital-Networks, organizations responsible for managing public hospitals and their disaster preparedness, across Australia's six states and two territories. Participant recruitment targeted disaster-managers, emergency-preparedness-managers, and business-continuity-managers. Results: Survey responses were received from 53/130 (40.8 %) of Australia's Local-Hospital-Networks with representation from six states and one territory. Most risk reduction measures were widely adopted. However, for 17/39 (43.6 %) measures, one-fifth of the respondents had either never heard of the measure or were not implementing it. Underutilized measures related to post-disaster-triage, emergency-evacuation, water-backup, secondary-electricity-feed, point-of-care-testing, alternative-decontamination-sites, and waste-management-systems. Local-Hospital-Networks' region-type, catchment-population and number-of-healthcare-facilities were associated with adoption of underutilized measures. Conclusion: Although 22/39 (56.4 %) of carefully chosen measures were widely implemented, the state of Australia's disaster preparedness is variable. There remains room for improvement, particularly against an “all-hazards” standard. Limited implementation of disaster-triage, evacuation-measures, and procedural issues, suggests that Australian Local-Hospital-Networks, particularly those managing fewer facilities are not sufficiently prepared for catastrophes. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-bd61ec2c44e24e5e89db0548cb294e22 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2590-0617 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Progress in Disaster Science |
| spelling | doaj-art-bd61ec2c44e24e5e89db0548cb294e222025-08-20T01:56:49ZengElsevierProgress in Disaster Science2590-06172024-12-012410036910.1016/j.pdisas.2024.100369Disaster preparedness in Australian hospitals: A cross-sectional surveyFaran Shoaib Naru0Kate Churruca1Janet C. Long2Mitchell Sarkies3Jeffrey Braithwaite4Centre for Healthcare Resilience and Implementation Science, Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia; Corresponding author at: AIHI, Macquarie University, 75 Talavera Rd, North Ryde NSW, 2113 North Ryde, Australia.Centre for Healthcare Resilience and Implementation Science, Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University, Sydney, AustraliaCentre for Healthcare Resilience and Implementation Science, Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University, Sydney, AustraliaCentre for Healthcare Resilience and Implementation Science, Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia; School of Health Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia; Implementation Science Academy, University of Sydney, Sydney, AustraliaCentre for Healthcare Resilience and Implementation Science, Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University, Sydney, AustraliaObjective: This study examined the extent of disaster preparedness in Australian hospitals, seeking to identify opportunities for improvement. Insufficient preparation can lead to mortality/morbidity in post-disaster scenarios. Early identification of resolvable shortcomings in preparing for events is an important goal. Materials and methods: A purpose-designed anonymous survey was distributed to all Local-Hospital-Networks, organizations responsible for managing public hospitals and their disaster preparedness, across Australia's six states and two territories. Participant recruitment targeted disaster-managers, emergency-preparedness-managers, and business-continuity-managers. Results: Survey responses were received from 53/130 (40.8 %) of Australia's Local-Hospital-Networks with representation from six states and one territory. Most risk reduction measures were widely adopted. However, for 17/39 (43.6 %) measures, one-fifth of the respondents had either never heard of the measure or were not implementing it. Underutilized measures related to post-disaster-triage, emergency-evacuation, water-backup, secondary-electricity-feed, point-of-care-testing, alternative-decontamination-sites, and waste-management-systems. Local-Hospital-Networks' region-type, catchment-population and number-of-healthcare-facilities were associated with adoption of underutilized measures. Conclusion: Although 22/39 (56.4 %) of carefully chosen measures were widely implemented, the state of Australia's disaster preparedness is variable. There remains room for improvement, particularly against an “all-hazards” standard. Limited implementation of disaster-triage, evacuation-measures, and procedural issues, suggests that Australian Local-Hospital-Networks, particularly those managing fewer facilities are not sufficiently prepared for catastrophes.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590061724000590Hospital disaster preparednessDisaster risk reductionDisaster risk mitigation |
| spellingShingle | Faran Shoaib Naru Kate Churruca Janet C. Long Mitchell Sarkies Jeffrey Braithwaite Disaster preparedness in Australian hospitals: A cross-sectional survey Progress in Disaster Science Hospital disaster preparedness Disaster risk reduction Disaster risk mitigation |
| title | Disaster preparedness in Australian hospitals: A cross-sectional survey |
| title_full | Disaster preparedness in Australian hospitals: A cross-sectional survey |
| title_fullStr | Disaster preparedness in Australian hospitals: A cross-sectional survey |
| title_full_unstemmed | Disaster preparedness in Australian hospitals: A cross-sectional survey |
| title_short | Disaster preparedness in Australian hospitals: A cross-sectional survey |
| title_sort | disaster preparedness in australian hospitals a cross sectional survey |
| topic | Hospital disaster preparedness Disaster risk reduction Disaster risk mitigation |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590061724000590 |
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