Hospital Mass Casualty Incident Preparedness and Contingency Planning

Realizing the need of hospitals to be prepared to ensure continuous operations during and after a disaster strikes, in times when their services are required most, a group of experts in the field of health emergency management globally have been working with the Hong Kong College of Emergency Medicine (HKCEM) and the Hong Kong Jockey Club Disaster Preparedness and Response Institute (HKJCDPRI) to develop and implement Advanced Disaster Response Course (ADRC). ADRC is designed to develop the knowledge and skills of administrative and medical personnel to prepare health care facilities to respond effectively, to ensure continuous operations during or even after disasters, and to recover for better from the impacts of disasters.

The course is developed and organised by the HKCEM with the support of the HKJCDPRI, under the generous donation of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust. The HKJCDPRI would like to share with you some highlights of the training in this webcast.

The concept of hospital contingency planning, as well as business continuity in Hospital Services is vital to ensure the continuation of provision of high quality patient care even in times of service disruption, and to recover quickly and safely from incidents. The World Health Organization (WHO) initiated the concept of “Safe Hospitals from Disasters” to reduce risk, protect health facilities and save lives. In addition to the focus on physical integrity of health facilities when facing hazards, it also emphases on the accessibility and functional integrity at the acute phase of disasters.

Dr Shih Fuh-yuan is a prestigious disaster management expert in Taiwan. He is the former CEO of Emergency Medical Operation Centre in Taipei Region, Ministry of Health and is currently the Assistant Professor at the Emergency Department of the National Taiwan University Hospital. Dr Shih has extensive and solid experience in designing hospital contingency planning on mass casualty incidents for the Ministry of Health of Taiwan. His teaching and sharing are always impressive, thanks to his profound experience and knowledge gained in Taiwan and overseas.

Using Taiwan as a case study, Dr Shih will identify prominent and challenges for mass casualty incident preparedness and outline possible solutions for overcoming such challenges. Dr Shih will also introduce various tools used to evaluate emergency healthcare services performance.

The webinar will be of interest to experienced clinicians, clinical leaders, public health practitioners, health services administrators, and professionals involving in hospital planning, development and construction.