Development of a Hospital Medical Surge Preparedness Index using a national hospital survey

Abstract

To generate a Hospital Medical Surge Preparedness Index that can be used to evaluate hospitals across the United States in regard to their capacity to handle patient surges during mass casualty events. Data from the American Hospital Association's annual survey, conducted from 2005 to 2014. Our sample comprised 6239 hospitals across all 50 states, with an annual average of 5769 admissions. An extensive review of the American Hospital Association survey was conducted and relevant variables applicable to hospital inpatient services were extracted. Subject matter experts then categorized these items according to the following subdomains of the "Science of Surge" construct: staff, supplies, space, and system. The variables within these categories were then analyzed through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, concluding with the evaluation of internal reliability. Based on the combined results, we generated individual (by hospital) scores for each of the four metrics and an overall score. The exploratory factor analysis indicated a clustering of variables consistent with the "Science of Surge" subdomains, and this finding was in agreement with the statistics generated through the confirmatory factor analysis. We also found high internal reliability coefficients, with Cronbach's alpha values for all constructs exceeding 0.9. A novel Hospital Medical Surge Preparedness Index linked to hospital metrics has been developed to assess a health care facility's capacity to manage patients from mass casualty events. This index could be used by hospitals and emergency management planners to assess a facility's readiness to provide care during disasters.

Using a national level cross-sectional study to develop a Hospital Preparedness Index (HOSPI) for Covid-19 management: A case study from India

“…The four domains included in our HOSPI are also representative of the four domains identified to evaluate ‘surge capacity’ of a hospital during mass casualties, namely staff, supplies, space, and system [ 27 ]. This concept has been often used, most recently to develop a hospital medical surge preparedness index in the USA [ 28 ]. In our index, ‘staff’ is represented by domain 1, ‘supplies’ and ‘space’ are represented by sub-domains contained in domains 3 and 4, and ‘system’ is represented by sub-domains contained in domains 2 and 4.…”

Hospital Preparedness Assessment against COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case Study in Turkish Tertiary Healthcare Services

“…Some of the reviewed ones are reports suggested by the WHO as we adapted in this study and guidelines [19]. Most of them are based on a questionnaire-based assessment tool [22][23][24][25][26][27]. Apart from this type of disaster preparedness evaluation studies, there are MCDM-based papers in the literature.…”

A data-driven approach to measuring epidemiological susceptibility risk around the world

“…Furthermore, Marcozzi et al 27 present a Hospital Medical Surge Preparedness Index (HMSPI) that can be used to systematically evaluate health care facilities across the U.S. states regarding their capacity to handle patient surges during disasters. The index aims to ensure that the US health care delivery system is poised to respond to mass casualty events by assessing the ability of victims to access health care 28 as well as resolving weaknesses and reinforcing strengths in hospital and emergency management planning and capacity 29 .…”

“… Joint Research Centre (JRC), European Commission Hospital Medical Surge Preparedness Index Composite index, covering the USA only, available since 2015. It measures the ability of health care facilities to handle patient surges during disasters Marcozzi et al 27 Epidemiological susceptibility risk index Composite index, covering 188 countries during 2000-2019. It measures the extent to which countries are susceptible to epidemiological risk broadly accounting for health, economic and institutional factors.…”