University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
Prehosp Disaster Med. 2012 Oct;27(5):432-8. doi: 10.1017/S1049023X12001045. Epub 2012 Aug 9.
A substantial barrier to improving disaster preparedness in Australia is a lack of prescriptive national guidelines based on individual hospital capabilities. A recent literature review revealed that only one Australian hospital has published data regarding its current preparedness level.
To establish baseline levels of disaster knowledge, preparedness, and willingness to respond to a disaster among one hospital's staff, and thus enable the implementation of national disaster preparedness guidelines based on realistic capabilities of individual hospitals.
An anonymous questionnaire was distributed to individuals and departments that play key roles in the hospital's external disaster response. Questions concerned prior education and experience specific to disasters, general preparedness knowledge, perceived preparedness of themselves and their department, and willingness to respond to a disaster from a conventional and/or chemical, biological, or radiological incident.
Responses were received from 140 individuals representing nine hospital departments. Eighty-three participants (59.3%) had previously received disaster education; 53 (37.9%) had attended a disaster simulation drill, and 18 (12.9%) had responded to an actual disaster. The average disaster preparedness knowledge score was 3.57 out of 10. The majority of respondents rated themselves as "not really" prepared and were "unsure" of their respective departments' level of preparedness. Most respondents indicated a willingness to participate in both a conventional incident involving burns and/or physical trauma, and an incident involving chemical, biological or radiological (CBR) weapons.
Australian hospital staff are under-prepared to respond to a disaster because of a lack of education, insufficient simulation exercises, and limited disaster experience. The absence of specific national standards and guidelines through which individual hospitals can develop their capabilities further compounds the poverty in preparedness.
提高澳大利亚灾害准备工作的一个主要障碍是缺乏基于个别医院能力的规定性国家准则。最近的文献回顾表明，只有一家澳大利亚医院公布了其当前准备水平的数据。
在一家医院的员工中确定灾害知识、准备程度和应对灾害的意愿的基线水平，从而使基于个别医院实际能力的国家灾害准备准则得以实施。
向在医院外部灾害应对中发挥关键作用的个人和部门分发了一份匿名问卷。问题涉及与灾害相关的先前教育和经验、一般准备知识、对自己和部门的准备程度的看法，以及对常规和/或化学、生物或放射性事件的应对意愿。
收到了来自代表医院九个部门的 140 个人的回复。83 名参与者（59.3%）之前接受过灾害教育；53 名（37.9%）参加过灾害模拟演练，18 名（12.9%）曾应对过实际灾害。灾害准备知识平均得分为 3.57 分。大多数受访者认为自己“不太准备好”，对各自部门的准备程度“不确定”。大多数受访者表示愿意参与涉及烧伤和/或身体创伤的常规事件以及涉及化学、生物或放射性（CBR）武器的事件。
由于缺乏教育、模拟演习不足以及灾害经验有限，澳大利亚医院工作人员对灾害的应对准备不足。个别医院制定能力的具体国家标准和准则的缺失，进一步加剧了准备不足的问题。
