Current Status of Disaster Preparedness of Pharmacies and Differences in Disaster Awareness Based on Pharmacy Size.

OBJECTIVE

The prevention of deaths caused indirectly by disasters is important, especially for evacuees requiring medication. Pharmacies play a major role in providing medication to disaster victims. Therefore, this study evaluated the current status of disaster preparedness among pharmacies, the extent of disaster awareness and knowledge of disaster mitigation measures, and any associations of these with the characteristics of pharmacies.

METHODS

Questionnaires about disaster preparedness were sent to 337 pharmacies in Japan, in a region at high risk of major earthquakes. Tabulation analyses were carried out to examine the characteristics of pharmacies and then a logistic regression analysis was performed to examine the relationship between disaster awareness and the level of preparedness of pharmacies. Furthermore, to examine in detail any differences associated with pharmacy size, subgroup analyses were performed.

RESULTS

High disaster awareness was significantly correlated with adequate disaster preparedness. However, in the subgroup analyses, no significant differences were observed among large pharmacies. In contrast, disaster awareness was significantly related to the disaster preparedness of small pharmacies.

CONCLUSION

The findings suggest that the disaster preparedness of pharmacies is related to the level of disaster awareness, highlighting the importance of disaster awareness activities in ordinary times before a disaster. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2019;13:753-757).