Lessons Learned From an Obstetrics and Gynecology Field Hospital Response to Natural Disasters

According to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned (2006), emergency management professionals realized first-hand that preplanning and coordination is essential when mounting an effective reaction to natural disasters. This chapter describes how leaders in Chesterfield County, VA learned similar lessons in 2001 during Hurricane Irene. In comparison to Katrina the amount of damage caused by Irene was minimal but the impact on county leaders was severe. Based on lessons learned during Irene and an unexpected wind storm nine months later, Chesterfield County leaders now include the Chesterfield County Public (CCPL) in their official disaster relief plans. When activated, CCPL will serve as an information hub, double as a daytime relief shelter and participate in mass feeding if necessary. Selected library branches are available to be used as overnight relief shelters for mass care when the activation of a standard sized shelter facility is not warranted. These changes have made a notable difference.

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Obstetrics and Gynecology in a Field Hospital

Field Hospitals ◽

10.1017/9781316493489.020 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 205-212

Author(s):

Avi Abargel ◽

Shir Dar

Keyword(s):

Obstetrics And Gynecology ◽

Field Hospital

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Ocular morbidity in natural disasters: field hospital experience 2010–2015

Eye ◽

10.1038/s41433-018-0167-3 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 32 (11) ◽

pp. 1717-1722 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Perach Osaadon ◽

Erez Tsumi ◽

Russell Pokroy ◽

Tsvi Sheleg ◽

Kobi Peleg

Keyword(s):

Natural Disasters ◽

Field Hospital ◽

Hospital Experience ◽

Ocular Morbidity

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August 24th, 2016 Central Italy Earthquake - Validation of “Modified Utstein Template for Hospital Disaster Response Reporting,” A New Tool for Reporting Hospital’s Reaction to Disasters

Prehospital and Disaster Medicine ◽

10.1017/s1049023x19000281 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 34 (s1) ◽

pp. s4-s5

Author(s):

Matteo Paganini ◽

Luca Ragazzoni ◽

Fabio Rossitto ◽

Aurora Vecchiato ◽

Rita Bonfini ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Natural Disasters ◽

Disaster Response ◽

Assessment Tool ◽

Central Italy ◽

Central Italy Earthquake ◽

Medical Response ◽

Scientific Report ◽

Management Reporting ◽

Hospital Response ◽

Utstein Style

Introduction:After Action Reports analyze events and recommend actions to facilitate preparedness and response to future similar disasters. However, there is no consensus among the templates developed to collect data during disasters and little is known about how to report hospital responses.Aim:The hypothesis was that the use of a new assessment tool for hospital response to natural disasters facilitates the systematic collection of data and the delivery of a scientific report after the event.Methods:A data collection tool, focused on hospital response to natural disasters, was created modifying the “Utstein-Style Template for Uniform Data Reporting of Acute Medical Response in Disasters”,1 and tested the reaction of the hospitals involved in the response to the Central Italy earthquake on August 24th, 2016.Results:Four hospitals were included. The completion rate of the tool was of 97.10%. A total of 613 patients accessed the four emergency departments, most of them in Rieti hospital (178; 29.04%). Three hundred and thirty – six patients were classified as earthquake-related (54.81%), most of which with trauma injuries (260; 77.38%).Discussion:The new reporting tool proved to be easy to use and allowed to retrospectively reconstruct most (97.10%) of the actions implemented by hospital responders. Details about activation, patient fluxes, times, and actions undertaken were easily reconstructed throughout in-field interviews of hospital managers and patients’ charts. Patients were uniformly distributed across the four hospitals, and the hospital capabilities were able to cope with this mass influx of casualties. The Modified Utstein Template for Hospital Disaster Response Reporting is a valid tool for hospital disaster management reporting. This template could be used for a better comprehension of hospital disaster reaction, debriefing activities, and revisions.

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(P1-30) Natural Disasters Challenge for Emergency and Rescue Services - Lessons Learned

Prehospital and Disaster Medicine ◽

10.1017/s1049023x11003621 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 26 (S1) ◽

pp. s108-s108

Author(s):

P.W. Gula ◽

E.M. Szafran

Keyword(s):

Natural Disasters ◽

Emergency Response ◽

Communication Systems ◽

Large Scale ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Local Response ◽

Rescue Services ◽

Regional Coordination ◽

Road Systems ◽

And Control

Natural disasters challenge for Emergency and Rescue Services- lessons learned Przemyslaw Gula MD PhD, Edyta Szafran Institute for Emergency Medicine. Krakow, Poland.In the period 2008–2010 Poland experienced series of natural disasters including 3 large scales flooding, 2 periods of extremely high snowfalls followed by low temperature periods and finally local flush flooding in different locations. The time of each disaster elapsed from several days up to 6 weeks. All of them had severe impact on local infrastructure by destroying road systems, communication as well as healthcare and fire brigade facilities. The rescue efforts required evacuation, Search and Rescue operations, providing medical care and shelter. The most problems occurred in following areas: - large scale evacuation - collapse of communication systems (including 112 dispatch) - inadequate number of specialized rescue equipment (helicopters, vehicles, boats, snowmobiles, etc.) - providing EMS in affected areas - necessity of evacuating hospitals. The lessons learned showed the need for following changes: - strong trans regional coordination in means of facilitation of utilizing civil protection and military recourses - unification of operative procedures for all actors of the response operation - improvement of communication systems and reducing their vulnerability on environmental factors - establishing regional crisis management and control centers, covering the emergency response activities in affected areas - need of large-scale use of HEMS as well as Police and military helicopters in natural disasters - need for better supply in specialized rescue equipment including recue motorboats, 4 wheels drive recue vehicles and ambulances, snowmobiles, quads in local response units. The main rule of commanding the entire operation is subsidiary. Local coordinating structures should be supported by regional and central governments by supplying necessary recourses. However the operational command should be unified and include all participating units and organizations.

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Hospital Responses to Acute-Onset Disasters: A Review

Prehospital and Disaster Medicine ◽

10.1017/s1049023x00024900 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 40-53 ◽

Cited By ~ 53

Author(s):

Andrew Milsten

Keyword(s):

Water Shortage ◽

Acute Onset ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Injury Patterns ◽

Physical Damage ◽

Hospital Operations ◽

Disaster Situation ◽

Common Problems ◽

Operational Failures ◽

Hospital Response

AbstractIntroduction:Hospitals the world over have been involved in disasters, both internal and external. These two types of disasters are independent, but not mutually exclusive. Internal disasters are isolated to the hospital and occur more frequently than do external disasters. External disasters affect the community as well as the hospital. This paper first focuses on common problems encountered during acute-onset disasters, with regards to hospital operations and caring for victims. Specific injury patterns commonly seen during natural disasters are reviewed. Second, lessons learned from these common problems and their application to hospital disaster plans are reviewed.Methods:An extensive review of the available literature was conducted using the computerized databases Medline and Healthstar from 1977 through March 1999. Articles were selected if they contained information pertaining to a hospital response to a disaster situation or data on specific disaster injury patterns. Selected articles were read, abstracted, analyzed, and compiled.Results:Hospitals continually have difficulties and failures in several major areas of operation during a disaster. Common problem areas identified include communication and power failures, water shortage and contamination, physical damage, hazardous material exposure, unorganized evacuations, and resource allocation shortages.Conclusions::Lessons learned from past disaster-related operational failures are compiled and reviewed. The importance and types of disaster planning are reviewed.

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Business Continuity Plan (BCP)

Journal of Disaster Research ◽

10.20965/jdr.2012.p0343 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 7 (4) ◽

pp. 343-343

Author(s):

Kenji Watanabe

Keyword(s):

Natural Disasters ◽

Large Scale ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Management Systems ◽

Business Continuity ◽

Corporate Value ◽

Special Issue ◽

The Past ◽

New Findings ◽

Management Approaches

Among the lessons learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake, there were a large number of new findings, including which preparations functioned as planned and which did not. Now that a year has elapsed since the earthquake disaster, the parties concerned need to reexamine those measures which are yet to be implemented since we should not see the same results after a large scale disaster in the future as those we saw in the past. In this JDR Special Issue on Business Continuity Plan (BCP), I tried to ask for papers not only from academia but also from business fields to make this issue practical and useful to be leveraged for our next steps in preparing for incoming disasters. As a result, this issue obtains papers from various fields from academia to financial businesses and also with several different approaches which includes actual real case studies. Many of papers in this issue focus on intangible part of business continuity activities that is different from the traditional disaster management approaches which have mainly focused on tangibles or hardware reinforcement against natural disasters. Recent wide-area disasters taught us the importance of intangibles and we should start discussions more in details with aspects such as corporate value, emergency transportation & logistics, training & exercises, funding arrangement, and management systems. I hope that discussions and insights in this issue will help our discussions and actions to move forward. Finally, I really thank the authors’ insightful contributions and the referees’ intensive professional advices to make this JDR Special Issue valuable to our society in preparing for incoming disasters.

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