Document Type : Research articles
Authors
- Milad Ahmadi Marzaleh 1
- Rita Rezaee 2
- Abbas Rezaianzadeh 3
- Mahnaz Rakhshan 4
- Gholamhassan Haddadi 5
- Mahmoudreza Peyravi 6, 7
1 Ph.D. Candidate of Health in Disasters and Emergencies, Student Research Committee, Department of Health in Disasters and Emergencies, Health Human Resources Research Center, School of Management and Medical Informatics, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
2 Associate Professor, Health Human Resource Development Research Center, Department of Health Information Management, Health Human Resources Research Center, School of Management and Medical Informatics, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
3 Professor, School of Health, Department of Epidemiology, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
4 Associate Professor, Department of Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
5 Associate Professor, Department of Radiology, Ionizing and Nonionizing Radiation Research Center, School of Paramedical, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
6 Assistant Professor, Department of Health in Disasters and Emergencies, Health Human Resources Research Center, School of Management and Medical Informatics, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
7 Research Center for Emergency and Disaster Resilience, Red Recent Society of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
Background: The emergency department is the entrance gate of patients to a hospital. Hospitals are confronted with major chal- lenges in radiation, nuclear accidents, and nuclear terrorism. Iran is also at risk of disasters, accidents, and threats, so, the possibility of nuclear and radiation accidents cannot be neglected.
Objectives: The present study aimed to extract the effective factors in emergency department preparedness of hospitals for radia- tion, nuclear accidents, and nuclear terrorism in Iran.
Methods: This qualitative study was conducted using in-depth semi-structured interviews with 32 key informants selected through purposive and snowball sampling. Experts were from seven different specialties. Data were analyzed using the thematic analysis method in order to extract the effective factors in emergency department preparedness of hospitals for radiation, nuclear accidents, and nuclear terrorism in Iran in 2019. The interviews were held in the cities of Bushehr, Tehran, Shiraz, and Isfahan from September 2018 to February 2019.
Results: Effective factors in emergency department preparedness of hospitals were categorized into staff preparedness, equipment preparedness, and system preparedness with 20 subcategories. The experts emphasized that training courses and exercises could enhance the preparedness and response to these accidents.
Conclusions: This study showed that the emergency departments of hospitals in Iran have many challenges. When the country moves towards having nuclear technology, must also provide the infrastructure of the preparedness. There must be an attempt toreduce these challenges by providing financial and structural support. Identifying effective factors in preparation can be helpful in setting up programs for emergency department preparedness of hospitals against nuclear and radiation accidents.
Keywords
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