Identifying Dimensions and Components of Hospital Exercises to Preparedness for Biological Incidents and Threats

Bioterrorist incidents and the epidemic of emerging and re-emerging diseases highlight the necessity of preparation for countries more than ever. Due to the biological threats nature, managers and employees of healthcare centers are the first people to face the consequences of a biological attack. Therefore, the healthcare system must make the necessary preparations to deal with biological threats. One way to prepare is to do various exercises in this field. The aim of the current study was to identify dimensions and components of hospital exercises to Preparedness for biological incidents and threats.

Data were collected through library and internet searches in electronic sources including Science Direct, Scopus, PubMed, GoogleScholar and SID using the keywords of research, preparedness against incidents and biological threats, and hospital exercises program between 2000 and 2022. Collected data were analyzed by MAXQDA v18 software.

The findings of the study consist of 9 dimensions: 1) Leadership, command, and coordination, 2) Communication, information management, and information, 3) Planning and formulation of protocols, 4) Development of scenarios, training, and types of exercises, 5) Overcapacity and resource management, 6) Exercise organization and human capital, 7) Exercise implementation and response operations, 8) Safety and security, 9) Retrieval, evaluation, and lessons learned, and 31 components as well.

According to the results obtained in this study, hospitals must implement each of the 9 dimensions and 31 sub-components carefully and in detail for the correct implementation of the biological practice.