| Background: After the Kermanshah earthquake on November 12, 2017, Tabriz University
of Medical Sciences dispatched a response team to the earthquake-stricken areas. This team
provided the affected people with health services for 10 days. This article intends to examine
the experience of this team in Kermanshah earthquake-stricken areas.
Materials and Methods: After the team’s return from Kermanshah, a meeting was held
to examine the challenges and review the learned lessons with 60 participants, including
authorities and the people who were members of the team. The discussed issues were coded
using content analysis. The similar codes were merged, and then categories were extracted.
Results: The analysis of discussions led to 9 categories of experiences that included delay in
recalling process and its challenges, lack of preparedness, use of the virtual space capacity,
lack of proper assessment of the health needs and the estimation of facilities, management
experience of the team on the dispatch, shortcomings, and imperfections, managerial
challenges, lack of coordination, and setting up of field hospitals without planning.
Conclusion: Iran is susceptible to natural disasters, and from time to time, parts of the country
are affected by these disasters. One of the priorities in these disasters is people’s need for health
services. Since health facilities in the area usually encounter problems in these circumstances,
other medical universities should provide help and relief. The present experience shows that
there are still many challenges that should be addressed. |