7.5. Improving functional safety
The ability of a health facility to function during and after a disaster is also dependent on how well prepared it is–from a technical and administrative organizational standpoint–to respond to the emergency conditions.
In assessing the functional safety of a health facility, the Hospital Safety Index looks at the general level of organization of the hospital’s management, its implementation of plans and programs, the availability of resources, and its human resources’ degree of development and preparedness. It also judges the safety of the services that are a priority for operation, and the extent to which the hospital’s disaster plan has been implemented. Read more about this in the Guide for Evaluators.
Frequently hospitals do not have up-to-date hospital disaster preparedness plans that are well known by staff and institutionalized as part of the hospital’s culture, plans that address the risks to which the hospital is exposed – not only due to the hazards it faces but also as a function of the vulnerability of its facilities—a vulnerability that the Hospital Safety Index itself helps to identify.
It is also common that although staff may have had experience with previous disasters and generally know what must be done, it is often the case that there are no official or institutional response procedures for different types of disasters, nor are their formal maintenance plans for lifeline services or an adequately stocked storeroom with supplies for dealing with mass casualties.
The hospital’s ‘external’ clients cannot be ignored—patients, family members, visitors, etc. They too must be made aware of their role in a hospital’s response to disaster, particularly sudden-onset disasters such as earthquakes—so as not to increase increase the facility’s vulnerability.
To accomplish the above and strengthen the facility’s response capacity, it is important to develop ongoing risk management training programs. These can help to create a culture of prevention, both within and outside the care facility.
Although it is true that most corrective measures to address functional do not require a great financial investment, they do require the active involvement of health workers, who are key to the functional continuity of health services. Time and sustained effort are needed to change attitudes and behavior that favor risk management in the workplace. The intervention plan will allow for monitoring of these activities.
