Comparison of Earthquake Disaster Preparedness in Tehran Military and Non-military Hospitals

In disasters such as earthquake, health services providing by hospitals has a significant role in disaster impact reducing, so, availability of the programs and incident command system in these centers is important. The aim of this study was comparison of earthquake disasters preparedness in selected military and non-military hospitals in Tehran.

This descriptive-analytical and cross-sectional study was done in 41 military and non-military hospitals in Tehran using quota and simple random sampling method. Data were collected using the approved questionnaire and checklist in eight areas of preparedness. The data were analyzed by t-test using SPSS software with a confidence level of 95%.

The average score of preparedness for all hospitals was 63.78 % (SD= 18.88) which evaluated in moderate level. Comparison of the preparedness in military and non-military hospitals in all dimensions revealed that the average score of preparedness in military hospitals was slightly higher than the other non-military hospitals (65.65 in comparison with 63.18%), although in the overall assessment based on the level, each of the two groups were moderate and theirs differences were not significant statistically (p > 0.05).

Increasing the preparedness in military hospitals requires planning to strengthen the weaknesses in four dimensions, including: 1) safety of equipment and hazardous materials; 2) necessary medical and nonmedical equipment and consumable goods; 3) hospital training programs; and 4) support for critical services, in non-military hospitals in the following dimensions, including: 1) construction risks mitigation; 2) hospital evacuation and field treatment; 3) hospital environmental health procedures; and 4) disaster plan management.