Michael S. Molloy

Health care system hazard vulnerability analysis: an assessment of all public hospitals in Abu Dhabi

Hazard vulnerability analysis (HVA) is used to risk-stratify potential threats, measure the probability of those threats, and guide disaster preparedness. The primary objective of this project was to analyse the level of disaster preparedness in public hospitals in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, utilising the HVA tool in collaboration with the Disaster Medicine Section at Harvard Medical School. The secondary objective was to review each facilitys disaster plan and make recommendations based on the HVA findings. Based on the review, this article makes eight observations, including on the need for more accurate data; better hazard assessment capabilities; enhanced decontamination capacities; and the development of hospital-specific emergency management programmes, a hospital incident command system, and a centralised, dedicated regional disaster coordination centre. With this project, HVAs were conducted successfully for the first time in health care facilities in Abu Dhabi. This study thus serves as another successful example of multidisciplinary emergency preparedness processes.

Chester Step Test as a Reliable, Reproducible Method of Assessing Physical Fitness of Disaster Deployment Personnel

Disaster response in the field is typically very strenuous, difficult work, both physically and mentally. While hard evidence is lacking, it may be inferred that disaster providers lacking appropriate physical fitness are at increased risk of injury or compromising safety operations during a deployment. This problem may be amplified depending on where the disaster has occurred. For example, deploying to a large-scale international disaster, particularly in a developing country under austere conditions, often brings the additional variable of limited or non-existent local healthcare.

Review of Instruments Used in Hazard Vulnerability Analysis of Hospitals

Study/Objective: To perform a qualitative comparison of instruments used for hazard vulnerability analysis of hospitals. Background: Analysis of hazard vulnerability is the process by which a hospital determines the relative priority of each potential threat to the organization when allocating resources for disaster preparation and mitigation. While all hospitals in the United States are required to perform a hazard vulnerability analysis annually and use their findings to guide planning efforts, no officially sanctioned instrument exists for this task. Thus, a variety of tools exist in the public domain to assist hospitals in analysis of hazard vulnerability. Methods: Hazard vulnerability analysis instruments were identified using a standardized online search technique. For each instrument, we compare the hazards identified for analysis, the method of determining probability, magnitude, and mitigation for each hazard, as well as the method used to determine risk using qualitative methodology. Results: This study is in progress, with results expected by December 2016. Conclusion: The study is currently ongoing. We anticipate that instruments will vary significantly in the specific threats assessed, calculation of probability, and measure of severity. Relative strength and weaknesses of different instruments will be highlighted. It is of concern that the hazard vulnerability analysis of hospitals in the United States may be skewed by the specific instrument chosen, and that no recommendations currently exist to guide the efforts of emergency managers. Our hope is that this review of available instruments will lead to further research into best practices, resulting in the standardization of the hazard vulnerability analysis of hospitals in the United States.