Hospitals Safety versus Disasters in north east of Iran: The Results of 42 Hospitals assessment

Iran is exposed to a variety of natural and man-made disasters. Disasters impose considerable damages to the population and infrastructure including hospitals. In both developing and developed countries, hospital safety versus disasters is a challenge because the hospitals must be able to continue their functions during disasters. To assessment of hospital safety for disasters, the World Health Organization (WHO) has developed the Hospital Safety Index (HSI) that is a rapid, reliable and low-cost tool. This study presents the results of the disaster safety assessment in hospitals of the Razavi Khorasan province in 2015. Method: We applied, adapted version of HSI (FHSI) and self-assessment approach to assessing the disaster safety in 42 hospitals. This tool consists of 145 items categorized in 3 components, including structural, non-structural and functional dimensions. Safety level was categorized into 3 levels in each item: not safe (0), average safe (1) and high safe (2). Hospitals were classified into three safety classes according to their total score: low (≤34.0), average (34. 1- 66.0) and high (>66.0) safety. Result: In this study, we assessed 26 teaching hospitals and 16 private hospitals. Our study showed that the overall disaster safety score of the Khorasan's hospitals was 60.2 out of 100. Average safety scores out of 100 were 52.8 for functional capacity, 52.9 for non-structural component and 67.6 for the structural component in our hospitals. There have been statistically significant differences between teaching and private hospitals in structural, non-structural and functional dimensions. (p-value <0.05)Conclusions: To enhance the hospital safety for disaster, we require multi-disciplinary collaboration and a commitment from high levels of authorities. For attaining this purpose, we recommend: 1) establishment of a national committee for hospital safety in disasters, including all stakeholders; 2) supervision of proper implementation of the safety standards in structure of new hospitals; 3) enhancement of readiness and safety of non-structural and structural components of the existing hospitals and encourage the hospitals to invest and planning for disaster preparedness.

کلیدواژه ها:

Hospital ، safety ، disaster ، emergency ، Iran