Investigating Hospital Preparedness in Ardabil Province Against Unexpected Accidents

Background: The most crucial issue in the disaster and accidents is the health management of the affected community because accidents and disasters always have a significant impact on hygiene, general health, and the wellbeing of the stricken community. Considering the hospitals’ function and their front line position in managing the victims of accidents and having to continue and even increase their activity at the time of accidents and disasters, they should have a program of coping with accidents. In this regard, the current study investigated the preparedness of hospitals in Ardabil Province, Iran, in response to unexpected events. Materials and Methods: This was a descriptive, analytical, and cross-sectional study conducted in 15 hospitals in Ardabil Province in 2017. To collect study data, a two-part questionnaire was used. Its first part investigated the demographic data of the hospitals. The second part was the national tool to assess hospital preparedness in accidents and disasters with 91 questions in 9 areas of preparedness (command and control, communication, safety and security, triage, capacity increasing, continuity of essential services, workforce, resource management, and post-disaster recovery). The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: The findings of this study revealed that out of the 15 studied hospitals, only 4 were well prepared, 3 were poorly prepared, and 8 hospitals were moderately prepared for crisis management. On average, out of the 9 investigated aspects, triage, human resource management, and recovery after disasters had the lowest status. Conclusion: Considering the obtained results and the importance of preparing for unexpected events, it can be useful to plan and have an explicit instruction, and then implement and evaluate it to increase the preparedness to confront unexpected accidents in all hospitals.