Disaster preparedness level of university hospitals of Sousse -Tunisia

Abstract

Background Disasters, whether natural or man-made, are unpredictable. The health care systems, represented by hospitals, are on the front lines of the emergency and disaster response. Tunisian health structures, must be able to cope with a case of mass influx of victims following any disasters. Therefore, we conducted this study to describe the level of disaster preparedness of University Hospitals of Sousse - Tunisia. Methods A simple descriptive quote is the basis of a data collection, conducted between September and October 2019 and performed in both University Hospitals of Sousse - Tunisia (Farhat Hached and Sahloul). The measuring instrument used in this study is the 'Hospital Safety Index' designed by the World Health Organization in 2008. Data was analyzed using the 'Module and safety index calculator' which calculates a specific score for each module (structural safety, nonstructural safety and emergency and disaster management) and an overall score for hospital safety, and assigns an appropriate classification which can be “c/C” corresponds to a score from 0 to 0.35, “b/B” from 0.36 to 0.65, or “a/A” from 0.66 to 1. Results The overall safety index class of both hospitals was 'B'. Sahloul University Hospital was classified as 'a' in both structural and nonstructural safety modules and classified as 'c' in the emergency and disaster management module, in the other hand Farhat Hached University Hospital was classified as 'c' in structural safety module and classified as 'b' in both nonstructural safety and emergency and disaster management modules. Conclusions The hospitals' current levels of emergency and disaster management needs to be improved. Actually, both patients and staff safety as well as the hospital's ability to function during and after emergencies and disasters are potentially at risk. In both hospitals, intervention measures are needed in the short term. Key messages Appropriate disaster management should be based on a clear plan, preparedness and collaborative and effective efforts on the part of the community and the different organizations involved. A safe hospital needs to assure that its services remain accessible and functioning at maximum capacity, before, during and immediately after the impact of emergencies and disasters.

Level of emergency and disaster preparedness of public hospitals in Northwest Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study

“…In this study, only emergency and disaster committees exist in most hospitals but have no effective functioning, and hospital incident management systems are displayed with diagrammatic representation in most hospitals but no personnel is assigned to each management position in the hospital incident management system. This finding coincides with a similar study conducted in western Ethiopia, Tunisia, and Indonesia [27 , 29 , 35] . There is no exercise of the plans through different drills to evaluate and correct the plan accordingly even though there exists a plan for emergency and disaster response in most of the hospitals.…”

“…The study's findings revealed that hospitals' preparedness for the management of health emergencies and disasters is low, with an overall preparedness score of 54.75 %. This finding is consistent with a similar study conducted in western Ethiopia, Tunisia, Jeddah, and Italy, but it is lower than that of an Indonesian study [27] , [28] , [29] , [30] , [31] . The variation may be due to geographical differences, which may interfere with institutions' perceptions of disaster risk according to the nature of the disaster in that specific location [32 , 33] .…”