ASSESSMENT OF DISASTER PREPAREDNESS BY CONDUCTING A MOCK DRILL IN A TERTIARY CARE TEACHING, RESEARCH AND REFERRAL MEDICAL INSTITUTE IN SOUTH INDIA

Abstract

Background: Disaster management occupies an important place in this country's policy framework as it is the poor and
the under-privileged who are worst affected on account of calamities /disasters. Disasters and mass casualties can cause
great confusion and inefciency in the hospitals. Hospital disaster drills provides the opportunity to plan, prepare and when needed enables a
rational response in case of disasters/ mass casualty incidents.
Method: A mock drill was conducted to assess disaster preparedness of the hospital on 15th Sep 2015. Mock drill was done under the supervision
of Department of Hospital Administration. The drill assessed the functioning of Emergency and other areas in the hospital during disaster
situations. The assessment was done on the basis of a checklist/questionnaire developed from the “Tool for Evaluating Core Elements of Hospital
Disaster Drills” prepared by The Johns Hopkins University Evidence based Practice Centre, Baltimore.
Results: Thus assessment of drills showed that the Incident Command System (ICS) and Treatment zone worked efciently but the Restriction
Zone and Triage Zones need to be strengthened and managed more efciently.
Recommendations: There is need to conduct regular drills and their proper assessment with standardized tools should be done by appropriate
authorities who are well trained beforehand. A tabletop exercise can help to motivate hospital staff to learn more about disaster preparedness and
can help to teach staff about aspects of disaster-related patient care in a way that simulates the practice setting.