Hospital disaster preparedness: meeting a requirement or preparing for the worst?

Abstract

Too many of our nation's hospitals have been become complacent over disaster preparedness. They develop a document to meet a licensure requirement or a joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations standard. The language is minimal and when the document is exercised, only a few portions (personnel recall and mass casualty, in particular) are tested. It would benefit hospitals to take time to talk to those recently effected by floods, earthquakes or hurricanes, so that they would learn that to be really prepared to face and survive a disaster, extensive, in-depth planning must take place.