title: Emergency preparedness for hospitals. An overview.
abstract: Healthcare facilities have emergency preparedness plans (EPPs) in place to respond to both natural disasters, such as earthquakes and floods, and man-made disasters, such as terrorist acts and transportation accidents. During the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, hospitals implemented their EPPs and met the needs of injured people. Is your facility ready to handle large-scale disasters, including such events as terrorist attacks? If not, now's the time to review and update your EPP. This article provides an overview of the hospital's role in handling major disasters and a discussion of how to ensure that you have an effective EPP. It also includes a list of useful Web sites related to emergency preparedness.
mesh_terms: D004189:Disaster Planning / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006077:Government Agencies; D006801:Humans; D007373:Interinstitutional Relations; D010934:Planning Techniques; D014481:United States