Are Dutch Hospitals Prepared for Chemical, Biological, or Radionuclear Incidents? A Survey Study

Mortelmans, Luc; Gaakeer, Menno; Dieltiens, Greet; Anseeuw, Kurt; Sabbé, Marc

doi:10.1017/s1049023x17006513

Cited by 32 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Even in a well-prepared hospital, responding effectively to a disaster is a complex challenge. In the literature, there are many methods and evaluations [4][5][6][7][8][9][10] of the level of hospital emergency preparedness, but there is no consensus on correct and standardized methods and tools that would clearly define how individual institutions should prepare for crisis incidents [11][12][13][14]. This is largely due to the allocation of individual hospitals as well as, among others, geographical, demographic, climatic, social and economic factors, which may impact upon or be associated with the occurrence of particular events in a given region, or the response to them.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disaster Preparedness and Professional Competence Among Healthcare Providers: Pilot Study Results

Goniewicz¹,

Goniewicz

2020

Sustainability

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The preparedness of a hospital for mass-casualty incident and disaster response includes activities, programs and systems developed and implemented before the event. These measures are designed to provide the necessary medical care to victims of disasters, and to minimize the negative impact of individual events on medical services. Up until now, there has been no systematic survey in Poland concerning the readiness of hospitals, as well as medical personnel, to deal with mass-casualty incidents. Consequently, little is known about the knowledge, skills, and professional competences of healthcare workers. The objective of this pilot study was to start an exploration and to collect data on the competences of healthcare workers, in addition to assessing the preparedness of hospitals for mass-casualty incidents. Utilizing an anonymous survey of a random sample, 134 healthcare providers were asked to respond to questions about the competencies they needed, and hospital preparedness during disaster response. It turned out that the test subjects evaluate their own preparedness for mass-casualty incidents and disasters better than the preparedness of their current place of work. The pilot study demonstrated that a properly designed questionnaire can be used to assess the relationship between hospital and staff preparedness and disaster response efficiency. Evaluation of the preparedness and effectiveness of disaster response is a means of finding and removing possible gaps and weaknesses in the functioning and effective management of a hospital during mass-casualty incidents.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disaster Preparedness and Professional Competence Among Healthcare Providers: Pilot Study Results

Goniewicz¹,

Goniewicz

2020

Sustainability

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“…The members of nuclear triage and decontamination teams should be determined separately in the emergency department. As much as possible, the members of this team should not be part of the emergency department and should be formed independently (13,20,21). The formation of decontamination and triage teams can be more effective in responding effectively to these accidents.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The amount of radiation received by the person is quickly measured with detectors and treatment is prioritized according to the amount of radiation received. The required drugs and chelating agents in emergency departments should be available in advance because the immediate treatment of the injured individuals is in high priority (4,6,20,24). Many experts emphasized the process of decontamination and self-protection.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emergency Department Preparedness of Hospitals for Radiation, Nuclear Accidents, and Nuclear Terrorism: A Qualitative Study in Iran

Marzaleh

Rezaee

Rezaianzadeh

et al. 2019

Iran Red Crescent Med J

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Background:The emergency department is the entrance gate of patients to a hospital. Hospitals are confronted with major challenges in radiation, nuclear accidents, and nuclear terrorism. Iran is also at risk of disasters, accidents, and threats, so, the possibility of nuclear and radiation accidents cannot be neglected. Objectives: The present study aimed to extract the effective factors in emergency department preparedness of hospitals for radiation, nuclear accidents, and nuclear terrorism in Iran. Methods: This qualitative study was conducted using in-depth semi-structured interviews with 32 key informants selected through purposive and snowball sampling. Experts were from seven different specialties. Data were analyzed using the thematic analysis method in order to extract the effective factors in emergency department preparedness of hospitals for radiation, nuclear accidents, and nuclear terrorism in Iran in 2019. The interviews were held in the cities of Bushehr, Tehran, Shiraz, and Isfahan from September 2018 to February 2019. Results: Effective factors in emergency department preparedness of hospitals were categorized into staff preparedness, equipment preparedness, and system preparedness with 20 subcategories. The experts emphasized that training courses and exercises could enhance the preparedness and response to these accidents. Conclusions: This study showed that the emergency departments of hospitals in Iran have many challenges. When the country moves towards having nuclear technology, must also provide the infrastructure of the preparedness. There must be an attempt to reduce these challenges by providing financial and structural support. Identifying effective factors in preparation can be helpful in setting up programs for emergency department preparedness of hospitals against nuclear and radiation accidents.

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“…[9] A similar survey in the Netherlands found serious lack of hospital preparedness for chemical, biological, or radionuclear (CBRN) incidents. [10] Also in the Netherlands, a study of general coordination capacities of emergency services found patterns of organizational fragmentation emerging when challenged with disaster training. [11] 1.2 Importance Literature on integrated inter-organizational response capacities to chemical incidents is scarce and testable hypotheses are largely lacking.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

"The Alarm Was Grass Fire": Emergency Services' Perceptions of Chemical Incident Mobilization in Sweden - a Focus Group Study

Westman¹,

Saveman²,

Björnstig³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Background: In chemical incidents, infrequent but potentially disastrous, the World Health Organization calls for inter-organizational coordination of actors involved. Multi-organizational studies of chemical response capacities are scarce and testable hypotheses are largely lacking. We aimed to describe chemical incident experiences and perceptions of Swedish fire and rescue services, emergency medical services, police services, and emergency dispatch services personnel.Methods: Eight emergency service organizations in two distinct and dissimilar regions in Sweden participated in one organization-specific focus group interview each. The total number of respondents was 25 (7 females and 18 males). A qualitative inductive content analysis was performed.Results: Three types of information processing were derived as emerging during acute-phase chemical incident mobilization: Unspecified (a caller communicating with an emergency medical dispatcher), specified (each emergency service obtaining organization-specific expert information), and aligned (continually updated information from the scene condensed and disseminated back to all parties at the scene). Improvable shortcomings were identified, e.g. randomness (unspecified information processing), inter-organizational reticence (specified information processing), and downprioritizing central information transmission while saving lives (aligned information processing).Conclusions: It is inferred that sensitivity, specificity and time-effectiveness in the flow of information may be improved by automation, public education, revised dispatcher education, and use of technical resources in the field. It is further inferred that inter-organizational coordination may be improved by inter-organizational training and revised standard operating procedures. We propose systematic assessments of chemical incident probabilities in Sweden.

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Are Dutch Hospitals Prepared for Chemical, Biological, or Radionuclear Incidents? A Survey Study

Cited by 32 publications

References 22 publications

Disaster Preparedness and Professional Competence Among Healthcare Providers: Pilot Study Results

Disaster Preparedness and Professional Competence Among Healthcare Providers: Pilot Study Results

Emergency Department Preparedness of Hospitals for Radiation, Nuclear Accidents, and Nuclear Terrorism: A Qualitative Study in Iran

"The Alarm Was Grass Fire": Emergency Services' Perceptions of Chemical Incident Mobilization in Sweden - a Focus Group Study

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