There are a lot of scary threats in the world – extreme weather, terrorist attacks, deadly infectious diseases, mass shootings – but if healthcare organisations plan ahead for such disasters, lives can be saved.
The first step for health care organisations preparing for emergencies is to accurately assess the kinds of hazards they may face, such as flooding, power outages, or violence, emergency preparedness expert, Paul Biddinger said at Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health as part of the Hot Topics summer lecture series.
In 2005, Biddinger and colleagues learned from consultants from Israel—who’d dealt with bombings that resulted in mass casualties—that the average time from when a bomb goes off until the first person reaches the closest emergency department is four minutes. Experts from other places that had dealt with bombings, including London, Madrid, and Mumbai, confirmed that events unfold incredibly quickly during a disaster.
Realising that
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