| Background and Objectives: Healthcare centers that are the most important providers of health services to communities should be
able to respond appropriately to most people in the shortest possible time when disasters occur. The present study aimed to assess the
preparedness of healthcare centers against disasters in Qorveh city. Methods: This is a cross-sectional applied study conducted in all
healthcare centers of Qorveh city in 2014. To collect the required data, a checklist containing 152 questions was used and the
performance of the healthcare centers was evaluated in terms of 12 aspects (structure, coordination, organization, storage, safety, risk
assessment, environmental health, diseases, family health, emergency medical services, command and rapid assessment). The
checklist was completed by the healthcare personnel in terms of the area under study by direct observation and evaluation of the
equipment, programs and documents. The data were analyzed using SPSS software, and the mean scores of preparedness as well as
the standard deviations were estimated. Results: As far as the preparedness of the healthcare centers was concerned, emergency
medical services with the mean score of 21.8 and standard deviation of 10.59 had the least preparedness while safety with the mean
score of 47.1 and standard deviation of 8.89 had the highest degree of preparedness. Meanwhile, the overall mean score of the centers’
preparedness was 31.16 with a standard deviation of 6.47 which was higher than the national mean score. Conclusion: The healthcare
centers in Qorveh city were not well-prepared against disasters. Therefore, it is necessary for them to improve their preparedness in
terms of the areas studied. |