Study of Functional Vulnerability Status of Tehran Hospitals in Dealing With Natural Disasters

Authors

  • Heshmatollah Asadi Department of Health Management and Economics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Keywords:

Disasters, Functional Vulnerability, Hospitals

Abstract

Introduction: At the time of disasters, hospitals are considered as one of the most important facilities which should provide emergency services continuously. The purpose of this study was to determine the functional vulnerability of Tehran hospitals in dealing with natural disasters.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in educational hospitals of Tehran University of Medical Science (TUMS), in 2013. Of all 26 hospitals, 12 hospitals were selected through single-stage cluster sampling, including six general (Shariati, Amiralam, Sina, Imam, Hazrat Rasoul, Baharlou) and six specialized (Bahrami, Hazrat-e  Aliasghar, Shahid rajaie, Roozbeh, Moheb yas, Children Medical Center) hospitals. Data were collected using World Health Organization (WHO) checklist for functional indicators of safe hospitals, recommended for countries with similar climates. Data were collected through interviews with members of hospital crisis committees and direct observations. Data analysis was carried out using SPSS version 18 using descriptive statistics and Fisher's exact test.

Results: Fifty percent of hospitals in the study, in terms of functional vulnerability status, were in satisfactory condition with low level of vulnerability, 41.7% were in the moderate level and 8.3% were in a non-satisfactory condition with high levels of vulnerability. The results of Fisher's exact test showed that there wasn't a significant correlation between functional vulnerability and hospitals lifespan (p=0.99) and type of specialty (p=0.99).

Conclusion: As this study, assesses hospitals' main weaknesses in terms of procedures, strategies, plans, human resources, monitoring and evaluation, it is essential that each of these areas be reviewed by hospital managers separately, in order to take significant actions to eliminate their weaknesses.

 

References

Marquez MR. A Perspective on Global Disaster Behavioral Health Response. International journal of

Science Commerce and Humanities. 2014; 2(3): 257-65.

Daneshmandi M, Amiri H, Vahedi M, Farshi M, Saghafi A, Zigheymat F. Assessing the level of

preparedness for confronting crisis such as flood, earthquake, fire and storm in some selected hospitals of

Iran. Military Medicine Journal. 2010; 12(3): 167-71.

Mastaneh Z, Mouseli L. Capabilities and limitations of crisis management in the teaching hospitals of

Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, 2010. Sci Res Essays. 2013; 8(26): 1196-202. doi:

5897/SRE11.1668.

Malekshahi F, Mardani M. Abilities and limitations of crisis management in Shohadaye Ashayer and Social

Security hospitals of Khorramabad in 2007. Journal of Critical Care Nursing. 2009; 1(1): 29-34.

Arab M, Zeraati H, Akbari Haghighi F, Ravangard R. A Study on the executive managers' knowledge and

performance, and their hospitals preparedness against earthquake events and their relationships at public

hospitals (affiliated by tehran university of medical sciences); 2005-2006. Journal of Health

Administration. 2009; 11(34): 7-14.

Karimi HR, Karimi AR. Identification of Factors affecting human resource management in Imam Sajjad

Hospital. In: 3, editor. Conference on Preventive Medicine and Public Health. Bandarabas. 2010; 230-7.

WHO. Rapid health assessment protocols for emergencies. Translated to Persian by: Mamishi S, Sharifi I,

Keshavarz H. Tehran: Ministry of Health & Medical Education Health Subcommittee for Natural Disasters

Reduction & WHO press. 2001.

Shreve C, Fordham M, Anson S, Watson H, Hagen K, Wadhwa K, et al. Report on risk perception and

preparedness. 2014.

Çalin E, Kaya H, Çavuşoğlu A, Annuş S, Şen B. Disaster Readiness of Hospital Information Systems: A

Case Study from a Turkish University Hospital. 6th International Information Security & Cryptology

Conference; Ankara. 2013; 236-41.

Maher A, Yeganeh SM, Lari MA, Sayedin SH. The study of the quality and capacity of equipments'

functionality and non-structural vulnerability in selected Tehran general hospitals during an earthquake. Int

J Health Syst Disaster Manage. 2014; 2(2): 73-131. doi: 10.4103/2347-9019.139041.

Hosseini Shokouh SM, Anjomshoa M, Mousavi SM, Sadeghifar J, Armoun B, Rezapour A, et al.

Prerequisites of preparedness against earthquake in hospital system: A survey from Iran. Glob J of heal sci.

; 6(2): 237-45. doi: 10.5539/gjhs.v6n2p237. PMID: 24576386, PMCID: PMC4825456.

Zaboli R, Sajadi HS. Assessing hospital disaster preparedness in Tehran: Lessons learned on disaster and

mass casualty management system. Int J Health Syst Disaster Manage. 2014; 2(4): 193-248. doi:

4103/2347-9019.144405.

Organization WHO. Field manual for capacity assessment of health facilities in responding to emergencies.

Manila: World Health Organization, 2006. Available from:

http://apps.who.int/bookorders/anglais/detart1.jsp?sesslan=1&codlan=1&codcol=52&codcch=98#

Mulyasari F, Inoue S, Prashar S, Isayama K, Basu M, Srivastava N, et al. Disaster preparedness: Looking

through the lens of hospitals in Japan. International Journal of Disaster Risk Science. 2013; 4(2): 89-100.

doi: 10.1007/s13753-013-0010-1.

Lakbala P. Hospital Workers Disaster Management and Hospital Nonstructural: A Study in Bandar Abbas,

Iran. Glob J Health Sci. 2015; 8(4): 221-6. doi: 10.5539/gjhs.v8n4p221. PMID: 26573039, PMCID:

PMC4873581.

Sobhani G, Khammarnia M, Hayati R, Ravangard R, Heydari AR, Heydarvand S. Investigation of the

preparedness level of the hospitals against disasters in Bandar Abbas, Iran, in 2012. J Pak Med Assoc.

; 64(5): 506-9. PMID: 25272533.

WHO. Safe hospitals in emergencies and disasters: structural, non-structural and functional indicators.

Geneva. World Health Organization. 2010.

Nasiripour A, Raeissi P, Mahbobi M. Border hospital readiness in handling border related crisis in

Kermanshah Province , Iran, 2007. Journal of Health Administration. 2007; 10 (28): 41-8.

Zaboli RA, Tofighi Sh, Amerion A, Moghaddasi H. Survey of Tehran City Hospitals Preparedness for

Disaster. J Mil Med. 2006; 8(2): 103-11.

Amiri M, Chaman R, Raei M, Shirvani SD, Afkar A. Preparedness of hospitals in north of iran to deal with

disasters. Iran Red Crescent Med J. 2013; 15(6): 519-21. doi: 10.5812/ircmj.4279. PMID: 24349752,

PMCID: PMC3840841.

Salari H, Esfandiari A, Heidari A, Julaee H, Rahimi SH. Survey of natural disasters preparedness in public

and private hospitals of Islamic republic of Iran (case study of shiraz, 2011). Int J Health Syst Disaster

Manage. 2013; 1(1): 1-58. doi: 10.4103/2347-9019.122441.

Hekmatkhah A, Rahimi H, Kamali Aghdam M, Taghavi shahri SM, Sadeghifar J, Hamozadeh P. Assessing

The Preparedness Rate Againest Earthquake Risk In Hospitals Affiliated To Urmia University Of Medical

Sciences; 2011. Journal of Urmia Nursing and Midwifery Faculty. 2012; 10(2): 0-0.

Banatin CA, Go MV, Peňafiel AMRM, Bituin RA. Safe Hospitals in Emergencies and Disasters: Philippine

Indicators. Administrative Order. 2009.

Zangiabadi A, Esmaeilian Z. The analysis of indicators of vulnerability of urban housing against the risk of

natural disasters (Case Study: housing in Isfahan). Geography and Environmental Hazards. 2013; 1(4):

-29.

Published

2022-03-08