Preparedness of the Iran University of Medical Sciences hospitals against earthquak

Hospital disaster-management planning and preparedness are essential, considering earthquake threats in Iran. The objective of this study was to assess preparedness of hospitals affiliated to Iran University of Medical Science (IUMS) in Tehran against earthquakes in 2007 (1386 Iranian year).

This was a cross-sectional, descriptive-analytical study, involving 21 governmental and private hospitals affiliated to IUMS selected by random sampling. Data were gathered using checklists, questionnaires, interviews, and observation. The SPSS software was used for analysis of the data, and the Fisher exact test was employed for statistical analysis.

The data showed that, on the whole, 28.6 %, 61.9 %, and 9.5 % of the hospitals were at a weak, moderate, and good preparedness level, respectively. The hospitals preparedness level with regard to equipment safety and hazardous materials planning increases with their degree of specialization, the association being statistically significant (p = 0.038). The findings also show that there is a significant relationship between the hospital preparedness level (as regards planning for building dangers reduction) and crisis management training courses (p = 0.034).

Training courses are very effective for creating hospital preparedness against earthquakes