Does hospital medical staff maintain hospital disaster resilience?

Abstract

Background/Aim. In case of a disaster, it is necessary for the medical personnel to demonstrate the operational component of disaster resilience, which requires certain knowledge and skills regarding disaster medical response algorithms. The aim of this study was to analyze the preparedness of hospital medical professionals for maintaining hospital disaster resilience. Methods. In the period from July to September 2019, an anonymous survey was conducted among 295 hospital medical staff employed in hospitals in the territory of the region of Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Pearson's chi-square test, Student's t-test and graphical analysis were used in the statistical analysis. Results. of the survey show that most of medical staff (85.8%) believed that disaster drills are not held regularly in hospitals, the training period was less than 2 years (30.8%), and that the majority (86.1%) did not participate in exercises. Conclusion. The level of preparedness for responding to disasters is not maintained at a high level in hospitals in the territory of the Plovdiv region due to the irregular implementation of exercises and the small number of participants in them. So, it is necessary to introduce a specific training program and exercise once a year, which should have a beneficial effect on increasing the better preparedness of the medical staff for disasters and improving the operational resilience of the hospital.