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. 2024 Apr 23;24(1):68.
doi: 10.1186/s12873-024-00981-4.

Hospital preparedness assessment for road traffic accidents with mass casualties: a cross-sectional study in Kurdistan Province, Iran

Arezoo Yari  1   2 , Hamed Hassanzadeh  2 , Kourosh Akhbari  3 , Mohamad Esmaeil Motlagh  4 , Khaled Rahmani  5 , Yadolah Zarezadeh  6   7
Affiliations

Hospital preparedness assessment for road traffic accidents with mass casualties: a cross-sectional study in Kurdistan Province, Iran

Arezoo Yari et al. BMC Emerg Med. .

Abstract

Background: Road traffic accidents (RTAs) are predicted to become the world's seventh leading cause of death by 2030. Given the significant impact of RTAs on public health, effective hospital preparedness plays a pivotal role in managing and mitigating associated health and life-threatening issues. This study aims to meticulously evaluate the preparedness of selected hospitals in western Iran to handle road traffic accidents with mass casualties (RTAs-MC).

Methods: The study employed a descriptive-analytical approach, utilizing a reliable and valid questionnaire to measure hospitals' preparedness levels. Descriptive statistics (frequency distribution and mean) were utilized to provide an overview of the data, followed by analytical statistics (Spearman correlation test) to examine the relationship between hospital preparedness and its dimensions with the hospital profile. Data analysis, performed using SPSS software, categorized preparedness levels as weak, moderate, or high.

Results: The study found that hospitals in Kurdistan province had a favorable preparedness level (70.30) to respond to RTAs-MC. The cooperation and coordination domain had the highest preparedness level (98.75), while the human resource management (59.44) and training and exercise (54.00) domains had the lowest preparedness levels. The analysis revealed a significant relationship between hospital preparedness and hospital profile, including factors such as hospital specialty, number of beds, ambulances, staff, and specialized personnel, such as emergency medicine specialists.

Conclusion: Enhancing preparedness for RTAs-MC necessitates developing response plans to improve hospital profile, considering the region's geographic and topographic features, utilizing past experiences and lessons learned, implementing of Hospital Incident Command System (HICS), providing medical infrastructure and equipment, establishing communication channels, promoting cooperation and coordination, and creating training and exercise programs.

Keywords: Hospital; Iran; Mass casualties; Preparedness; Road traffic accidents.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The Location of Kurdistan province and its cities in Iran. This map shows Iran?s administrative and political borders with neighboring countries. Additionally, it displays the borders of neighboring provinces of Kurdistan and its bordering position with Iraq. The marked regions represent Kurdistan rovince and its cities, where the research was conducted. The authors have been inspired by the reference below and have made some modifications to create the map they used: Reference: Ramazani R, Yari A, Heydari A, Hanafi-Bojd AA, Soltani A, Rostami S, Ostadtaghizadeh A. War, displacement, and the best location for temporary sheltering: a qualitative study. BMC Public Health. 2022 Nov 11;22 [1]:2066
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