Evaluation of Jeddah Governmental Health Institutes in Health Preparedness to Chemical and Biological Weapons Of Mass Destruction
Journal Title: International Journal of Medical Research Professionals - Year 2017, Vol 3, Issue 6
Abstract
Introduction: Terrorism has become recognized widely as a significant threat to the safety and public as a result of the rise of technical capabilities, the rapid expansion of the global biotechnology industry, and the growth of freely sophisticated networks of large-scale terrorist groups that have expressed interest in terrorism. Hence, present study aimed to optimize the application of health services by improving the level of preparedness of health institutes towards chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction, emphasize this concept, and hence the need to research on it. Materials and Methods: The present cross-sectional analytic study was conducted in 6 general governmental hospitals of the ministry of health in Jeddah among 484 staff; out of them (192) were first respondents and (292) were healthcare providers. The aspects analyzed were communications; access to care; continuity of the plan; capacity; availability of pharmaceutical procedures and supplies; medical and mortuary care procedures; education/training; security; psychiatric services; laboratory diagnostic capability; and surveillance with questions under each category. Collected data was analyzed using SPSS version 22 and Fisher’s Exact test, Pearson’s Chi-square test, and t-test were used for statistical analysis with significance level considered at p less than 0.05. Results: In the present study, first respondents and healthcare providers differed regarding their knowledge about their general role in an emergency/disaster plan. Only (29.7%) of first respondents and (18.2%) of the healthcare providers were trained on wearing chemical cartridge air purifying respirators, despite the fact that (72.9%) and (61.3%) of them respectively, report their willingness to continue caring for patients in the event of an outbreak of a potentially deadly illness (which could be triggered by a terrorist attack). No facility has a surveillance system to detect early signs of biological and chemical terrorism (0%). Conclusion: This study demonstrated that there are notable areas for improvement in most aspects of facilitates preparedness status, in particular: planning for WMD, giving HVA more space in planning and reviewing pharmaceutical equipment capacity and also, increasing the multi-hospital drills with more education on specific protocols for dealing with biological and chemical agents is mandatory.
Authors and Affiliations
Eman Abdulsalam Bakhsh, Bader A. AlJasir, Amina Bargawi, Saud A. Bakhsh, Sabirin A. Bakhsh, Omar S. Baduhduh
Keywords
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- EP ID EP548754
- DOI 10.21276/ijmrp.2017.3.6.030
- Views 90
- Downloads 1
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