Security ... think about it!
Toner and his team reviewed published studies on healthcare disaster preparedness and response, literature on complex systems theory, and government guidance among other documents related to disastrous events and hospitals. The report, published earlier this year, includes feedback from experts who were presented with preliminary results at a meeting in February 2009. It concludes that “individual hospitals, cities, states, and the country as a whole remain unprepared for a catastrophic health event that results in thousands or tens of thousands of sick or injured persons.” Any progress made between 2002, when the Hospital Preparedness Program was established, and mid-2007 has improved response capabilities mainly for so-called common medical disasters — a bus crash, for example, or a tornado. But catastrophic events are fundamentally different from medical disasters, the authors explain, because they result in mass casualties, shattered infrastructure, and poorly functioning control systems.