Hospital planning for weapons of mass destruction incidents.
As terrorist attacks increase in fre-quency, hospital disaster plans need to be scrutinized to ensure that they take into account issues unique to weapons of mass destruction. This paper reports a review of the literature addressing hospital experiences with such incidents and the planning lessons thus learned. Construction of hos-pital disaster plans is examined as an ongoing process guided by the disaster planning committee. A review is completed of six special elements of weapons of mass destruction incidents that should be addressed in hospital disaster plans. The paper closes with a dis-cussion of the importance of train-ing and exercises in maintaining and improving the disaster plan.
Perry
Ronald W
RW
School of Public Affairs, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA.
Lindell
Michael K
MK
D004189:Disaster Planning / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006761:Hospitals; D023481:Terrorism; D014481:United States; D054044:Weapons of Mass Destruction