How to prepare hospitals to respond in crisis? Organization of healthcare disaster planning

Abstract

The disaster plan is a regulatory requirement. Its aim is to adapt the daily organization of a care centre in case of an extraordinary situation while preserving the quality of care for inpatients. It allows to cope either with numerous patients or with any risk endangering the hospital. An institutional procedure should be developed with the creation of a technical pilot committee whose purpose is to prepare an operational document. These guidelines should be often reevaluated according to practices or feedbacks. The procedure describes the disaster plan organization, including the crisis management unit, staff recall, admission of patients in emergency medical unit (triage) and in wards, cancellation of hospitalizations, reception of close relatives, internal and external communication. An annual training with pre-written crisis scenarios must be provided to each professional to master his own unit strategy.