Survey of Biological Incidents Preparedness of Hospitals in Markazi Province in 2016

Background and Aim: Biological incidents are one of the most important threats to the people’s health which can disturb the national security bases and cause public fear in any country. The preparedness of hospitals to deal with such events can play a major role in reducing casualties, maintaining the authority of countries, and increasing the public trust in governments. Given the importance of this issue, and since few similar studies have been conducted in Iran, the present study aimed to assess the biological incidents preparedness of hospitals in Markazi province during 2016.
Methods: The present research was a cross-sectional study. The statistical population included all the hospitals of Markazi province, including 14 hospitals of the Arak University of Medical Sciences, 2 private hospitals, and 3 social security hospitals. The data collection tool was the American Hospital Association Chemical and Bioterrorism Preparedness Checklist that contained 120 questions, which was used after translation into Farsi and localization. The data were collected through interviewing with hospital managers and reviewing documents from May to February 2016. At the end they were statistically analyzed in SPSS-16.
Results: The mean score of general information, communication, meeting the needs of patients, organizing, support and logistics, process of medical treatments, education, hospital management and security, psychiatric services, and diagnosis on the American Hospital Association Chemical and Bioterrorism Preparedness Checklist were 36, 27, 38, 27, 32, 27, 24, 8, 11, and 28 (out of 100), respectively. In addition, the mean total score of preparedness for dealing with biological incidents was obtained 26, which is considered poor.
Conclusion: With regard to the complexity and novelty of issues on management and preparedness for biological incidents, the level of preparedness of hospitals in the Markazi province in this study was evaluated poor, as expected. It requires paying special attention to this issue by the authorities and adopting quick and serious strategies and solutions to increase the preparedness of hospitals. Hence, it is highly necessary to evaluate the preparedness of medical centers across Iran in biological incidents and to develop some programs for dealing with them.